Taming of the Wolf
by Fish and Chipz
Summary: AU. She is the daughter of one of the richest men in England, and after a botched assassination attempt on her life, she is ecstatic to discover her new bodyguard is a tall, dark, silent man only known as the Captain. But why does he keep disappearing every full moon? [Hans G./Captain fic]
1. Medio Luporum

Hi everyone, thanks for clicking on this fic –dodges from tomatoes- yes I know I have abandoned several fics and my profile says I'm retired and I am, I wrote Oh My Alucard 5 years ago (HOLY HELL THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO) and I also have Oh My Alucard 2 to write...Life took its toll on me and I found myself being unable to find the time to write or think about the story...but I can't seem to not write; it's like an itch that must be scratched at some point, and I figured I needed something new, so here is a story about the Captain.

He's one of the most interesting characters in the series. You all know this anyway - He may have committed heinous crimes in the past, but he doesn't seem to believe in Millennium's ideology, it's like he doesn't even want to be there or he is there for a different reason (to find someone worthy of killing him). He is also seen to be chivalrous and noble than his peers. He shows Integra the way to the Major, he shoots Heinkel then throws her a medkit, and he gives Seras a silver tooth to kill him. This is not a story about any of that, but a story about the events after OVA10, if he survived, therefore this story is AU.

The OC's probably a Mary Sue considering what happens, but there is a reason why it happens and at the moment she's still under development.

Hope you enjoy ~

* * *

 **Prologue**

 _In Medio Luporum_

A man sat in the dirty alleyway with two stray dogs at his feet. They were feasting contentedly on dog food he'd purchased from the local grocery and he watched them silently until he heard the rumble of a car engine approaching. Soon, a pair of flashlights shone brightly through the darkness, effectively scaring the dogs away. He watched them scamper into the bins and looked up, the flashlights reflecting off his peculiar blood-red eyes.

The black car came to a slow stop beside him and he stood up. The window rolled down noisily, and a smartly-dressed man donned in an expensive-looking suit was sitting at the back seat with a cigarette in hand. He recognised the man to be Mr Alvah, the one who regularly gave him contracts. "Good evening, Mr Günsche ." He greeted him politely, "You're early as usual. I guess I'll just cut to the chase, I'm very busy this evening."

Alvah then rummaged into the pocket of his suit and presented him with a photograph.

"This girl here." He murmured, and Günsche took the photo wordlessly, studied it carefully before slowly swerving his piercing gaze to the man in the car. "...I know you don't do this line of work...but my client is a very powerful man...and he wants her dead. You don't need to know why. She's currently attending a party tonight so there's your perfect opportunity. My client doesn't care how long it takes or what you do with her, but with your reputation around these parts, he has very little concern regarding your abilities to get the job done. To ensure this isn't a problem for you, here's your first payment - "

A rather heavy bag full of money was presented to him which he slipped into his pockets.

"You are to report back immediately once the task is done." With that, the window rolled back up and he watched the car drive away, slipping into the darkness.

Leaving the alley, he walked through the streets, ignoring the drunks and the other undesirables that lurked within the area and eventually arrived at a bar where he pushed open the door and was greeted with noisy song and cheer from the drunk male patrons inside. He ignored the drunks and made his way through the throng towards the counter where the bartender greeted him.

"Good evening, Capt– I mean, _Mr_ _Günsche_ ." The bartender said jovially, "Back from a hunt, I presume?"

He did not reply except return the bartender's stare with a challenging, blank stare of his own as he stopped at the counter.

"Oh, I almost forgot – " The bartender grabbed something underneath the counter and plopped it onto the surface; it was a fat, bulging bag of cash. "Here, this is payment from the last client. Take it. It's yours."

And he would take the money wordlessly, slipping it into his pocket along with the other bag of cash he received earlier. It's very different now, knowing that Millennium is no longer around.

"By the way, Mr Robb's waiting for you in the back."

He nodded and left the bar scene immediately and made his way to a storeroom which had been converted into a meeting room of all sorts, although all they could fit in was a small desk and two chairs facing each other. Once he arrived, he opened the door and there was the man named Robb seated on one of the chairs; he was a scruffy-looking man, dressed in overalls and with a brown cap atop his head.

"Hans, it's good to see you."

He took the spare seat wordlessly and sat down.

Robb took out a photograph and showed him it; immediately he noticed it was the exact same photo of the one he got from Mr Alvah – it was the same girl, with the same blond hair and blue eyes who was smiling at the camera. She was circled in red marker pen. "Word around is that a hit has been ordered on her. The client wants her safe and sound. He wants us to find out who wants her dead."

Günsche took the photo and then glanced up at Robb.

"I couldn't think of anyone else to do it; you're the best out of all my men. I haven't told him yet that I've chosen you for this job, but I will soon. Don't worry, there is payment at the end of it, and it's quite a large sum." Robb said, taking a deep drag of his cigarette, "Will you take this job?"

This would be the first time Günsche had been given conflicting work. Robb was unaware of the contract he'd just received; hell, Robb didn't know anything about the other work he took, unaware of Alvah. Günsche was a mercenary, yes, and he occasionally served as a bodyguard. He never had an assassination contract, and he had never received anything like this. Not like this.

Yet he found himself nodding.

* * *

 **Meanwhile.**

The nightclub was full of raving dance music and bright lights.

Stumbling gracelessly on her heels, Luna wobbled away from the dancefloor and joined her friends who were sitting at a private booth. "Whoo, I'm beat..." She mumbled, groaning as her head swirled and throbbed. Her belly was full of booze and feet were sore from hours of dancing, and someone nudged her on the shoulder. "What is it...?"

It was one of her friends, giggling and grinning at her. "Look, that guy's been checking you out the entire time."

"H...huh...?" Luna croaked out; she was too dizzy to even comprehend what was going on but suddenly her friend grabbed her by the sides of her head and turned her to face the direction of her so-called admirer. All she saw was a short stubby man with two women at each side. "Who? That guy over there...?"

"No, no, not him...oh, looks like he's gone. What a shame. He was so tall and dark and he wore this great big green coat. I couldn't see the rest of his face but I'm sure he was staring at you the entire time."

"Uh...okay..."

"Girl, you are so wasted. You should go home! Sheesh, you can't even stand up properly. Hey! Can we get some help over here?"

"Mmm...no way, it's still earlyyy..." Luna grumbled out, but she felt two hands lift her to her feet and she was ushered out of the club.

Luna was the daughter of one of the richest men in England.

According to the Forbes list, her family had maintained a position within the ranks for twenty consecutive years. She didn't really understand the way how their family built up most of their empire and what the fruits of their labour actually were, especially after the attack on London which caused a recession for thirty years and counting, but all she knew was that their wealth, fame and fortune had been constructed by her father and grandfather who were survivors of the war, and of course, there were also her older brothers within the family who also held up the fort. Luna was the youngest and the only daughter; she didn't have to worry about the business or anything along those lines. She lived relatively bliss-free with numerous servants and bodyguards surrounding her, attending to her every whim.

And it would be the typical dark day when Luna would learn of the assassination attempt on her life.

The bouncers had carried her to her car where her chauffeur/bodyguard was waiting; he was a nice, friendly man called Finn. "Oh dear, Miss Luna, you've had too much to drink..."

"No...I'm fine...I wanna go back in there..."

Finn shook his head as she drawled and slurred, and thanked the bouncers. "Thanks, I'll take her home."

She was helped inside the car and the door slammed shut behind her. She sat up, frowning as Finn steered the car out of the carpark. Just as she tried to address him, her phone rang and she picked it up, frowning. Once she accepted the call, she could only make out garbled nonsense. It was John, one of her brothers, calling her to find out when she was coming home considering how late it was.

But then she made out:

" _Bodyguard_."

"Huh? What?"

There was a short sigh from the other end of the line. " _I said, dad's hired a new bodyguard for you_."

"Whaddya mean?" Luna slurred down the receiver, hiccuping. "Why would he – _hic_ \- do that?"

"Well, apparently this new guy's been trained for war and his name's – "

Luna didn't hear the last part, because she noticed that Finn had steered off the main road. "Wait, I'll...I'll – _hic_ \- need to talk to you later, 'kay? Byeeeee." She quickly hung up, turning to address the driver whilst hiccuping. "Hey," She said drunkenly, with her prized pedigree Chihuahua fast asleep in her luxurious designer bag, "You're going the wrong – _hic_ \- way."

Finn merely glanced at her in the rear-view mirror and chuckled. "Yes, Miss Luna, but the weather is terrible and the traffic is bad this evening, so I thought we'd take a detour."

Staring into the night and the non-stop, torrential downpour, she gave him a curt nod. "Alright, alright... fair enough. Make it quick...- _hic_ \- I feel sick..." Luna mumbled, and Finn drove them down a few twisting, turning small roads before finally arriving at the entrance of thick woodland. Confused, she rose in her seat and pressed her palms and nose against the glass of the window, "Finn, what the hell are you doing? This isn't the way home..."

Still chuckling, his face was obscured by the chauffeur's cap. "Just sit tight, Miss Luna...we're almost there... _we're almost there_."

He suddenly slammed his heel on the accelerator and steered the Rolls Royce down the muddy terrain, turning left and right constantly whilst Luna flopped around helplessly. She tried to get up, and tried the door handle only to find it locked and not unlocking from her side; the Chihuahua woke up, barking incessantly and growling and finally, Finn came to a stop and Luna stared through the windshield to see that he'd driven her to a clearing where she could see three masked men in black waiting for them.

She squinted her eyes, trying to make sense of the situation, until Finn stopped the car and exited the vehicle then went to her door, opening it.

"Alright, Princess, out you go."

"Hey, what are you – No! Get off me!"

When he grabbed her roughly, she tried to kick him away with her heels, the dog yapping along in time. She managed to boot him in the face a few times but he gained the upperhand when he grabbed her hair, effectively causing her to cease her struggling and he dragged her out of the car and onto the cold and wet, slushy ground where she got her new dress, shoes and bag ruined by dirt and mud. The dog stumbled out and dashed away from the car, disappearing into the trees.

"Get over here, you damn bitch." Finn snarled, before he tossed her at the feet of the three masked men. All were holding guns in hands.

Luna sobered up rather quickly considering the situation and she spat out, "You bastard! When my dad finds out, I'll have him cut off your balls and skin you alive!"

"Shut up!" Finn backhanded her harshly across the face which caused her to growl. Turning to the men, he said, "There. I've brought you their bitch daughter as promised. Where's my payment?"

Ignoring him, the men moved forwards, grabbed her and one was holding a rock in hand which was abruptly used to smash her in the kneecap, forcing a scream to erupt from her lips. Crippled and in severe pain, they dragged her further into the woods and she cried and flailed, whilst Finn attempted to follow them.

"Hey! I said, where the hell is my money?!" His answer was a bullet to the head and Luna screamed as Finn lifelessly dropped to the ground, although her screams were drowned by the rain.

Struggling against her captors, they dragged her into the woods; she couldn't see anything else but more tall trees and bushes - and they finally let go of her where she immediately limped frantically towards a random direction but with her heels and bad leg, she was quickly caught up and she was thrown to the ground. Luna hit her head against the cold earth, hard, and she was quickly turned round onto her back and there was a weight on her. Her vision swimming, she saw dark silhouettes above her and her bag was flung to the side, then she felt her jacket being pulled off her before they made a grab at her dress and the front was torn off. Drops of rain splashed her chest and she beat her fists against the man who was trying to unclothe her, albeit vainly.

"Get off me!" She yelled angrily, only for the men to laugh.

 _This can't be how I die!_ She squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head. She'd heard of these things happening in the news before – children of millionaires getting kidnapped and taken hostage... Luna struggled as viciously as she could and then –

A nozzle was abruptly pressed against the man's head and in a split second, his head was blown off. Luna's jaw dropped, as the man's body slumped over, headless. Another man immediately retaliated, but he was too slow and a bullet slammed into his gut and neck, killing him instantly.

Smoke poured out from an immensely long barrel of a gun which was being held tightly in grip by a tall, dark stranger dressed in a long, army green coat and matching cap – she didn't even know where he came from but suddenly there he was, standing there – and she scrambled backwards in fright and stared as the remaining masked man whipped out his gun with shaking hands and unleashed a hail of bullets at this strange man. The man in green responded by leaping into the air, evading the bullets with finesse and ethereal reflexes, and with a twist of his powerful body, he sent a spinning kick to the man and to her utmost horror – he kicked him in half.

Guts flew, bones snapped, blood splattered in every direction possible.

With the last of the assailants dead, the man in green landed on the ground in a low crouch on one knee, the long tails of his coat flying. Luna stared with her eyes wide in terror at the sight of the mangled bodies and then she began scrabbling away backwards using her elbows before she finally pushed herself off the ground clumsily. Although the strange man threw his glance to her from the corner of his eye, he made no further move. Instead, he watched her stand and in a bid to escape, she sprinted away from the scene as quickly as she could, still limping and with her clothes torn.

She constantly threw him panicked glances over her shoulder until she suddenly fell and yelped, having tripped over something and she promptly disappeared from his view. The woods fell silent once more. Locating her discarded bag and jacket, he picked it up and followed the direction she'd run to and found her attempting to crawl with her broken leg. If it was not treated, it would get infected and she might die.

She sensed his presence and turned round. She had a better look of him this time and the first thing she noticed was how tall he was. And his physique was massive, much bigger than the group of masked men who'd attempted to kill her. He was dark-skinned and donned in a bulky but tattered army-green overcoat that was fully buttoned with the collar upturned, shielding most of his face from view except from those two beady red eyes that were staring at her. He wore a cap over messy, short grey hair and there was a dirty brown rucksack slung over his shoulder. The gun she saw before was fixed to holsters on his thick black belt, except she now noticed he actually possessed two. Nevertheless, he was still the formidable-looking stranger.

"S-stay back!" She stammered; she found the nearest object – a small blunt rock – and feeling its weight in her hand, she added, "I've got a rock here and I'm not afraid to use it! Don't come any closer!"

The man ignored her, taking one step closer.

"I'm warning you!"

A branch snapped in half under his thick boots as he took another step.

"I warned you!" She yelled, and raising it high above her head, she threw with all her might and watched as it sailed through the air and slammed against his chest before dropping to the ground uselessly with a loud thud. He didn't flinch, which made her think that the impact of the rock connecting was almost like a cork hitting a brick wall. Most people would've avoided that but she was stunned to see that he had taken the brunt of it. Glancing away from the rock at his feet, he stepped towards her again.

"Stop!" She grabbed another rock quickly – but he continued to advance towards her. Without waiting a second later, she flung the rock at his direction once more. Again, he did not attempt to duck away or avoid altogether and she watched helplessly as the rock bounced off him. Grabbing a fistful of rocks one by one, she tossed them whilst screaming out, "Stay away! Get away from me!"

They had little effect no matter how many she threw at his direction and soon he came to a stop before her, towering over her completely that his gargantuan form cast a shadow over her. One final rock bludgeoned him on the head and his cap flopped off, exposing his mop of shaggy grey hair and a little thin stream of blood flowing down his temple. She gawked at him in horror and when he squatted down to his haunches before her, she grabbed one rock as a last resort and before she could throw it –

He grabbed her wrist in a span of a split second.

Her jaw dropped and she tried to raise her other fist only for him to grab her other wrist, too. His grip was strong, but not enough to hurt her. His fingers curled around her tiny wrists so securely that she was scared he might break her arm in half if he willed it. Stuck in his iron grip, she finally came face to face with her attacker, or saviour – and she stared into ruby red eyes.

He was handsome, she supposed, with that blunt chin and strong nose and lips, but he had a stern but relentless gaze, which was focused on her solely. Their noses almost touched, signalling their close proximity and she could see the thin, upturned line of his mouth; he had a stoic, mesmerizing frown...and coupled with his eyes, which were the curious shade of red, the dark slit of his pupils were small and sharp...it was the look of a haunted man. It frightened her to a certain degree.

For what seemed to be an eternity, they gazed at each other and it came to her realisation he seemed to be observing her, until his gaze shifted to her torn dress. She followed his gaze and gasped at how exposed she was. The strange stoic man stared at her in return with no change in facial expression, nor did he seem capable of blinking for all that mattered as she released the rock and as it dropped to the ground uselessly, he copied her action, letting go of her wrists so she could cover herself up. He didn't seem to want to hurt her, as she had believed.

Allowing her to cradle her wrists, he rose to stand and dropped something weighty at her feet. It was her bag and jacket, which made her gasp in shock. "My stuff!" She exclaimed in relief, and as she quickly donned her muddy coat, she glanced up at him again with gratitude. "Thanks!"

The man did not respond to her at all and she slowly dropped her smile.

"Um...You're...who are you?"

No response.

"Well...you stopped those bad guys who were trying to hurt me. You're good, right?"

Again, no response; all he appeared capable of was returning her stare, expressionless. Her lip wobbled slightly when she remembered that this man...even if he had _saved_ her, he had also just kicked a man in half before her eyes and killed the others equally in cold blood... Shouldn't she alert the police?

Glancing up at him, since he hadn't spoken or made any form of noise, she blurted out, "...Can you talk?"

Once more, there was no reply, but the man suddenly turned, and pointed to the edge of the woods where the abandoned car was.

She gasped again and finally, it dawned to her. "Oh, I get it! You're that new bodyguard my brother was talking about! You must be, I mean, why else would some weird guy with massive guns be lurking around here? It all fits, duh. Here, help me up." She said, reaching for him with her arms outstretched. He took one look at her and after a short moment, he reached for her and pulled her up, only for her to flop helplessly to the ground. Blinking at herself numbly, she tried to lift herself up only to fall again. "Owwww...it's no use... my leg...uwaaghhhh...My leg really hurts..."

Studying her bloodied leg for a moment or so, the man reached for her once more and hoisted her into his arms, being mindful of her wounded leg. He was handling her pretty carefully...

Stunned by the action, she grinned up at him again. "Heeeey, you're pretty good at this. You don't need me to keep telling you what to do, unlike the others." She settled her arms around his neck and together, they made their way towards the car. "Can you really not talk?"

He did not respond, but he slid his gaze down to her.

"You _can't_ talk? Or you don't want to?"

She was met with silence.

"Mm, well, maybe it's better that way. Serve in silence I guess." She murmured thoughtfully. "I'm Luna by the way. Thanks for saving me earlier on. And I'm sorry for throwing rocks at you. I was really scared." She nudged him as he carried her out of the woods and they had almost reached the car, "You could at least tell me what your name is."

He suddenly stopped in his tracks and she peered over, looking at him questioningly.

"What?" She said, but then she spotted the chain of a dogtag hanging out of one pocket of his rucksack and she quickly reached for it and lifted it up where the word 'Captain' was barely distinguishable. "Oh, that's right. John said you're trained for war...so you're a captain? Alright then. That's fine with me. I'll just call you 'Captain' from now on..."

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE**

There goes the first chapter. So the actual summary is:

The Captain survived his battle with Seras and 30 years later, he has mellowed and has become a shadow of his former self; he has also abandoned his former identity to adopt the alias 'Hans Günsche', becoming a gun-for-hire and also the occasional bodyguard. One day, he receives an order to kill and protect a girl - Luna - from two different clients.


	2. Lupus Venenosa

Hello people, yay! I got some reviews and some favs and alerts. Thankies ^^ Yeah I am pretty much dead fanfictionally. I only write when I want to...which is like never. I'll see how this fic goes anyway.

Personally I don't think you will like Luna at the start, because she is your typical young rich naive, selfish girl. I think you will see gradual improvement as the story progresses, as I want her to change as the story goes on, with Captain mainly being the one changing her because he won't tolerate her shit lol. So yeah at the moment she is a bit of a spoiled bratty brat-brat and the extent of her uselessness when she is all alone is on display here lol.

* * *

 _Lupus Venenosa_

The girl he had saved was the girl from the two photographs he was given from Mr Robb and Mr Alvah respectively. He had watched her closely in the club before following the car she got in carefully.

Someone wanted her dead.  
Someone wanted her alive.

He could've killed her there, but he didn't. He looked at her frightened face and watched as she throttled him with rocks. He could've kicked her in half and blown her head off like he did with those masked men, but he didn't. Considering he had not killed her and did not have the intent to, he was no longer in league with Alvah, but with Robb. After all, Robb was the one who gave him bodyguard work. He was not concerned about Alvah finding out. The man posed very little threat to him anyway and Alvah knew that too. Robb was right. Someone had ordered a hit on her. His thoughts strayed to the possibility that it may have been Mr Alvah's doing, even if he was given the contract tonight. On the other hand, it could also be a third party.

The Captain finally arrived at the car with Luna bundled in his arms, with the sounds of rapid footsteps belonging to a small group of individuals approaching from behind which made him turn round and a bullet that whizzed past his ear.

" _There she is!"_

" _Get her!"_

From the woodlands, more men dressed in black emerged, brandishing all sorts of weapons. He figured it was the third party who wanted her dead.

"There's more of them!" Luna exclaimed in panic, "Let's get out of here!"

Retreating from the battle wasn't in his nature so the Captain settled her gently on the ground behind a large tree where she would be safe from attacks. She looked up at him questioningly before grabbing his sleeve.

"Wait! You can't go against them all, there's too many of them!"

The numbers of adversaries didn't faze or bother him one bit and he vanished from her sight in a blur, dashing forwards to apprehend the masked men. His speed was inhuman; Luna peered over the tree trunk to see him making short work of the group - they were no match for his brute strength at all. Luna watched as he ripped and kicked and tore limbs off. Her jaw dropped at the sight and the woods were filled with their screams of terror. Who was this man, exactly? Even if he was meant to be her bodyguard, this was too much. This man was _killing_ people.

And once the carnage was over, he quietly returned to her side yet again and she gawped up at him. He wondered if she was afraid of him and earnestly she should be, since she'd witnessed what he was capable of and she didn't know what to make of it. Instead, she said, "...Is it over?"

A brief nod.

"Did you see anyone else out there?"

He shook his head. He didn't sense anyone within the woods.

She was panicking all over again. "I can't believe this! People are trying to kill me!" She exclaimed, as he lowered himself to pick her up again; unconsciously, she draped her arms around his shoulders, clutching him tightly. "Why? What have I done? I don't have any enemies! No, wait... Maybe it's Charlene...she's never treated me the same after I spilled milkshake over her dress. But I didn't mean to! It was an accident! Or maybe it's Tiffany, after all...I _did_ beat her in that eating contest last year."

As she rambled, he carried her to the car only to find that the car's engine seemed to have died and she nudged him on the chest, causing him to throw another glance at her. "Could you go see if the car still works? I need to get back home right now!"

Wordlessly, the Captain settled her down in the back seat and then strode to the driver's seat whilst Luna tended to her bleeding leg miserably. He tried the car keys, twisting them, but the engine merely sputtered and choked out pathetically. Nothing. He averted his gaze to Luna, watching her as she fussed over herself. She was caked all over in blood and mud, her clothes torn and ripped and also splattered with dirt. Sighing, Luna went into her bag and picked up her compact mirror, trying to tidy up her dishevelled hair. Placing down the mirror, she smoothed her hair down and glanced up to see the Captain returning to her side.

No words needed to be exchanged but she knew that the car was not working.

 _Now what?_ She thought to herself. At this rate, how would they get back to the mansion? Turning to the tall brooding man, she noticed he was gazing intently at her leg. "What?" She said, and suddenly, he presented her with a first-aid kit from his tatty rucksack which he nudged forwards for her taking. She blinked at him blankly. "...But I don't know what to do with that. I've never been hurt before in my life. I should be going to a hospital."

The Captain gave her a long, hard stare and then crouched down in front of her, opening the kit to reveal a pack of medicine supplies. She watched him curiously as he glanced up at her again and waited for her response, as though silently seeking her approval first.

"O-okay, go ahead."

He worked silently, pulling out some gauze and antiseptic which he brushed over her wounded kneecap before he began wrapping the thin material over her leg. Once he finished patching her up, he glanced up again to see her staring at him in fascination before she glanced at her knee which he'd bandaged to perfection.

"Wow..." She croaked, staring at her neatly bandaged leg before she smiled widely; it occurred to him how little it took to impress her or make her happy, "How do you know how to do these kinds of stuff? Oh wait, you're trained for war. You must've been taught for all sorts of situations like these."

Grinning at him, she reached for him again with her arms outstretched and he took this as a cue to lift her out of the car and back into his arms.

"Since the car's gubbed, I guess we need to walk." She declared, "Well, what are you waiting for? Take me home."

He did not move, except stare at her.

She returned his stare. "...What's the matter? Don't you know the way back to the mansion?"

The Captain shook his head.

"Don't you have my brother's contact details, or-or my father's? He hired you!"

Again, he shook his head.

"But you're my bodyguard, you're supposed to – oh, wait, maybe it's because you're new. But that doesn't make any sense! Oh, never mind! I just wanna go home! I don't want to be here any longer! Look, I...er...I live in a really big house. I-I think it's called Basildon Knight Manor. Just take me there. You can do that for me, right?"

He was watching her in a way that made her contemplate and cringe at her own words.

It was true, though.

Luna didn't know how to get back home.

After all, she had chauffeurs to take her to anywhere she wanted, and back. She had never taken a bus or taxi before. There had never been a need for her to know any of that information. Hell, she didn't even dress herself in the mornings. Her servants did that for her. They even tied her shoelaces.

"...I can't believe I don't even know how to get home on my own...That's so pathetic..." She murmured sourly (and inwardly he really couldn't agree anymore). "Don't look at me like that, it's not my fault. The servants took me around everywhere by car and my dad forbid me from going out on my own!"

His expression did not change and she lowered her head glumly for a moment but then -

"Ah, I know!" She suddenly exclaimed, having regained her optimism since she had now remembered that she still had her phone, "I'll just call home – " With that, she pulled out her phone only to see that the screen was smashed in the scuffle and it was no longer switching on no matter how many times she pressed on the button. She grunted, glaring at the dark screen. Maybe she could find a public phone – they still had those around, right? But she didn't know her own house number. Or her brothers, or her father, or her mother's. She had them all on speed-dial, after all. Realising that she'd been ill prepared her entire life for emergencies like these, Luna turned to the Captain and squeaked out, "...What do we do?"

This girl was like a little baby bird who had fallen out of its nest.

He watched her intently then turned to the path before them. He presumed it would lead the way out. He adjusted his hold on her to ensure he was gripping her tightly, turned and began walking. The journey out of the woods was long and in silence. Her head was still pounding, her heart still thudding from the events that had just taken place, her blood thrumming in her veins; how could this happen? She had just come out of a party, like any ordinary Saturday evening...and now people had tried to kill her! Glancing up at the Captain, she was glad he was here; he was calm and silent as he carried her the entire time with no protest, and they must've been travelling for what seemed like an eternity until she nudged at his chest again.

"Hey, Captain?"

He swerved his gaze down to her.

"Why do you think this is happening to me?" She said, "I didn't do anything wrong. Do you think it's because of who I am and my dad's business? But...why me? Why not my brothers? Not that I want this to happen to them, of course. But they're the ones who are running the business, not me. I don't do anything."

As usual, he made no comment. She sighed; talking to him was like having a conversation with a brick wall. She didn't mind. Silence was golden, and she presumed he was a man of few, or no words. Inwardly she actually wondered what he might sound like if he spoke. Finally, she saw a small spray of lights in the horizon and found herself grinning.

"Hurray!" She cheered, gesturing excitedly to the lights, "We're almost there!"

He stepped out of the woodlands and arrived at the edge of a highway; cars sped past them, zooming fast in both directions. Opposite them was a small bustling town filled with buildings lit up with flashing neon signs. Glancing left and right, the Captain carefully crossed the road once it was clear and as soon as they were at the other side, he followed the path down to reach an alleyway that would lead into the small town.

"Wait. Put your guns away first." She said, and he glanced down at himself, then at her. "It's okay; you can put me down now...it'll probably look weird if they see you carrying me around anyway."

He obliged, letting her down onto the ground and he neatly hid his guns into his coat. They created an unusual shape under the material but she didn't want him to draw further attention to himself. And he already drew a lot of attention considering his appearance, which a lot of people would've found intimidating.

"Where are we anyway?" She said, as she glanced around. "Hm...the first thing we should do is find a place where I can get my phone fixed."

She attempted to walk, limping the entire time. He followed after her silently as she hobbled out of the alley and glanced at the numerous people walking around in the streets. No-one seemed to pay her any attention, too engrossed in their own endeavours. Since it was a Saturday evening, the amount of people in the town was staggering and she quickly returned to his side.

"Don't leave my sight, okay?"

Funny, it should be him telling her that, not her.

She wobbled down the path in her broken heels, the bandage on her knee had stopped the bleeding for now. She passed the numerous restaurants and cafes, scanning them thoroughly until she finally found a mobile phone repair shop called _Freddy's Phones_. She pushed open the door and hopped in with the Captain at her side. There was a man behind the counter – maybe it was Freddy – he was reading a newspaper until their arrival; Freddy promptly closed it and threw his gaze from Luna, to the Captain.

"I'll do the talking." She whispered to the silent man, having to lean onto her tiptoe just to reach him. Turning to Freddy the shop owner, she said, "I want you to fix this for me." She brought out her broken phone.

Freddy guessed this was business. He took the phone off her and inspected it carefully then handed it back to her after checking the damage. "...Alright, but I'm due to close soon. Come back tomorrow morning."

"What! I can't afford to wait that long!" Luna barked in frustration.

"Listen here, miss, do you want this fixed or not?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then come back tomorrow."

Growling at Freddy, she said, "Fine." And she plonked her phone into his awaiting palm once again. He noticed it was the latest model, limited edition and covered in gold. It could fetch a decent amount of money...

With an eyebrow raised, Freddy slipped the phone under his counter. "Thanking you, miss. I open at eleven. I'll have it fixed by then."

"Yes, if not then you're obviously not good at what you do." Luna said, which had Freddy inwardly scowling at her; being the rich daughter of one of the wealthiest men of England meant she was used to speaking to people in that rude, poor manner. They left the shop and the Captain watched as she huffed and puffed. "He's going to take all night just to fix my phone! Hmph!" He figured she was also used to making unreasonable demands. As they stood outside the shop, she turned to him, uncrossing her arms, "I'm tired."

...which meant they should probably find a place to rest for the night. The Captain glanced around, inspecting the shops around them before his wandering gaze landed on a motel. He pointed to it and she followed his gaze.

"There? You think we should stay there?" She said, disliking the look of the shady looking hotel. "No way! Look how ugly and rundown it is."

He stared at her intently but she merely crossed her arms again and held her nose high in the air. She didn't seem to understand the predicament they were in and that she really was in a poor position right now. When the Captain made a move towards the motel, she stared at his retreating back helplessly.

"Hey! Where are you going? Come back!"

He effectively ignored her and her lip wobbled.

She felt afraid not to have him by her side. "D-don't leave me behind! Wait up!" And she limped after him and finally fell into step with his long strides with much difficulty.

He opened the door to the establishment and a little bell sounded off, indicating their arrival. Inside, the receptionist was an old lady who sat at the desk with a little heater for warmth, her eyes glued to the flashing screen of her little TV where a shirtless man with bulging muscles was crouching on one knee before a beautiful woman in a long flowing dress. It was some kind of costume drama she was watching. Luna glanced around the shabby lobby and did not like the looks of it at all. The walls were peeling and yellow and it was unbearably cold. The carpet was old and emitted a strange, stale smell and the couches in the corner had seen better days. Even the paintings on the wall seemed to be in dire need of dusting.

As Luna inwardly shivered, the Captain approached and the receptionist did not look up, partially because she didn't hear him. Luna followed after him and stopped by his side. Glancing at the Captain, she wondered how he even got by if he did not speak.

Therefore, she cleared her throat and said, "We'd like a room."

Finally, the woman shifted her gaze from the shirtless man on telly, to the pair. "...Single or twin?"

"Whatever, just give us your best room."

"That would be room forty." The receptionist gave them both long stares before her gaze landed on the Captain, glancing at him from head to toe. "...How many nights?"

Luna said, "Just the one."

"That'll be fifty."

Twenty five per person. It was reasonable... "Alright." She fished through her dirty designer bag to find her wallet and found that she had no cash, having spent it all on booze at the nightclub previously. She cringed, and quickly scooped out her credit card. "Do you take card?"

Again, this only caused the receptionist to sigh heavily, as though everything that was going on at the moment was a complete and utter bother on her behalf. Luna watched her with a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach as the receptionist lifted up an old card machine and handed it to her. The buttons were fading and covered in a gungy, sticky residue. Luna inwardly swallowed down the lump in her throat and tucked her card into the slot neatly and input her pin number.

A few seconds later, the receptionist took the card machine back. "Your card's been declined."

Luna was shocked. "What?! But it was working fine a couple of hours ago!"

"Well, it says it's been declined."

"Let me try again!"

Again, she rammed the card into the machine and waited for the exchange, but the receptionist merely sighed once more as she glanced at the little screen. "...It's been declined. Again."

In disbelief, Luna croaked out, "N-no way..."

Suddenly, the Captain dug his gloved hand into his pockets and took out some cash which had Luna's jaw dropping. The receptionist raised one eyebrow and glanced up at him. He stared at her in return and suddenly the little old lady seemed to have shrunk into her clothes. He nudged the money closer for her taking and she grabbed the money and began counting it slowly. Luna blinked in astonishment and glanced up at the tall man; he did not look at her, just kept his eyes trained on the front.

He'd given her the correct amount. The receptionist grabbed a key from the desk, handing it to Luna. "You're in room number forty. You can either take the stairs or the elevator."

"Thanks." Luna hurried towards the direction of the elevator with the Captain silently trailing after her, watching as she pressed the button. They stood, waiting in silence and once the elevator arrived, the doors opened to reveal a tiny and mouldy looking space. He gestured for her to enter first and she stepped inside, glancing around nervously as he joined her, having to duck slightly because he was too tall. Once inside, he took up most of the elevator and she was squashed in one little corner. The doors closed and the elevator went up.

"This is the first time I've been in such a disgusting place. It's horrible." She grumbled. As usual her comment elicited very little reply from the man.

Eventually the elevator came to a stop with a loud 'ding!' and the doors opened. The Captain stepped out first and finally she was allowed to breathe; he waited for her to step out before following her again as Luna began searching for room forty. Thus began a short trek from the elevator to find their room. Her mother had warned her about going to hotels with strange men, and this would earnestly be the first time this was happening in her life. It wasn't even a nice hotel and he wasn't even the kind of man she would be seen with anyway. She sighed inwardly as she wordlessly searched for their room. She was tired and her heels weren't helping. The straps dug into her ankles painfully and her toes were getting numb from the cold. She didn't think she would last very long at this rate.

When she finally found room forty, Luna tried the key only to find it jammed. She twisted it right and left, up and down but to no avail. Turning to the Captain, she frowned as she held up the useless key, "The door's not opening."

He moved forwards and she stepped to the side.

With a hefty kick, the door opened; thankfully he hadn't used too much strength so the door merely swung loosely on its hinges. He let her in first, holding the door open for her.

 _What a gentleman_ , she thought. Luna trudged inside without further ado and glanced around in the darkness until he flipped the light switch on. The first thing she noticed was that this room could not be their 'best room'. It was tiny, with a double bed in the middle and a door which led to the equally tiny bathroom. A small TV stood at a small desk along with a kettle and two cups. Pulling back the sheets, she saw that they were yellowing and there were strands of hair on the pillow case which caused her to reel in horror. She even spotted a large spider crawling in one corner.

She turned to him in disbelief. "I-I can't stay here!" Luna squawked, shaking her head whilst wrapping her arms around herself, "I just can't! It-it's so dirty...and so tiny...I can't take it, I'll go mad!"

The Captain shut the door behind him and settled his bag over the chair, removed his cap and took his guns out from the innards of his coat, placing them on the floor against one wall. Already, his possessions took half the space of the room. Luna watched him uncomfortably as he strode into the bathroom which he inspected very briefly. He stepped back out and stopped before her. Under the light, she could see how dark his skin was and the interesting shade of his hair and eyes.

"...What?" She said, and he gestured to the bathroom then to Luna. She cast a glance at herself and cringed. She was dirty all over... but she didn't feel like taking a bath, not here. "Didn't you hear what I just said? _I can't stay here!_ "

He gave her a long look and her lip wobbled.

"I can't – "

His staring somewhat intensified.

"But it's just so – "

She noticed he was not looking away from her, nor did he blink. Not once. Luna shrunk under her jacket slightly.

"Okay, okay...I'll put up with it. Just for tonight. After this, never again!"

Finally, he turned away and seated himself down on the chair that was for his taking. She gave him a lopsided look then sighed in defeat. Fine...she would go take a shower, clean herself up...

Luna waddled inside and closed the door behind her. There was the tiny bathtub to her left, and the toilet and a sink to her right. On the rack were two towels and also two dressing gowns for guests but they looked a sorry state. She stared at her grubby reflection in the mirror and swallowed down. A few hours ago, she had spent hours on her makeup and hair, ready for the party. She was wearing the most in-season dress which cost a lot of money, and her bag was also the latest out in the market, a limited edition. Now she stood in front of this mirror, stunned by how bedraggled and weary she looked. Her dress was torn by her attackers, the material ripped and shredded. Her hair was a mess and so was her makeup. And she was caked in blood and mud all over.

Sighing, Luna stripped herself out of her garments, careful not to move her knee too much, and limped over to the tiny shower cubicle. She wondered how to switch it on since back at home, her servants had prepared her baths everyday for as long as she could remember. She finally got the hang out of it after a few minutes and lamented at the weak jet spray and the lukewarm temperature of the water. It took a while for the room to heat up and soon, the room was full of steam and the mirror was foggy.

Luna stood in the tub, thinking about today's events. Her eyelids began to droop, her mind going hazy... suddenly she felt very weary and weak...

* * *

 _ **BANG!**_

Glancing up at the sound, he put down the gun and went to the bathroom; it was locked. He stepped back and kicked it open, causing to swing wildly on its hinges and steam poured out from the tiny room. He spotted her lying on the floor of the bathtub, unconscious and naked; he could see that her skin was the colour of ivory, very soft and he could also see the curved line of her back. He went over, moved her away from the shower spray and then grabbed her by the bare shoulders, turning her around. She was out cold.

He shook her firmly and finally, she opened her eyes groggily, trying to focus.

"Mm...wh...what...?"

Luna looked around, then her gaze finally landed on the Captain before her. She blinked slowly before she glanced down at herself. And screamed.

"EEK! Don't look! Get out get out get out!"

Beating her tiny fists on his chest, it didn't take long for the tall man to leave the bathroom wordlessly.

* * *

Luna watched the door after the Captain's departure, staring wide-eyed and red-faced. Her heart was thumping so hard her ribs hurt. She knew he meant well, because she had passed out whilst taking a shower, but still...

 _Ahhh! How embarrassing!_

Eyeing the door, the Captain didn't seem intent on returning so she quickly finished her shower, grabbed a dressing gown and put it on, tightening the belt around her waist to avoid it from slipping off. She climbed out of the tub, went to the mirror again and checked herself – at least she was now clean and dirt-free. But without her make-up, she thought she looked very plain and boring. She left the bathroom whilst drying her damp hair with the towel, her dress was hanging off the hook, and she kept her bra and undies in another hand and folded away from view. The Captain was tending to one of his guns, but he swerved his gaze to her as soon as she emerged and studied her for a brief moment.

She froze up under his gaze, remembering what had just happened. "...Um...It's your turn." She mumbled, feeling very self-conscious all of a sudden; she didn't notice his gaze was pinned on her the entire time. Luna went to the bed and dropped over it, curling into a ball whilst closing her eyes, wanting to forget what had just happened.

The Captain stood up, put down the gun and went to the bathroom. She heard the door close behind him but it was silent inside.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door: "Room service."

She sat up. _I didn't order room service. Maybe the Captain did when I was taking a shower? But it's so late at night...and he doesn't even speak! How the hell did he manage to do that?_

There was another knock on the door and she got off the bed, hobbling over. She opened it a fraction to see the receptionist who promptly handed her a tray of food and drink. "Um...Thanks." Luna took the tray off her, shut the door and then went to the desk and settled the tray on the table. She glanced at the food before her stomach rumbled. It looked unappealing but she was hungry and there didn't seem to be anything else for her taking. However, she also wasn't sure if it was right to eat the food if the Captain ordered it, but she spotted two bottles of orange juice and licked her dry lips.

 _I'll just drink some for now. He'll understand._

Grabbing a bottle without any further second to delay, she unscrewed the lid and gulped down one or two large mouthfuls, relishing in the taste.

"Ahh, that really hit the spot." She said cheerfully, wiping at her mouth. The bathroom door opened then, and the Captain stepped out, fully dressed. "Hey, room service just came by - " She was interrupted when he was abruptly at her side in seconds and took the bottle off her hands. He glanced at her and she blinked blankly at him. "Sorry, I was really thirsty. I helped myself..."

When she left her sentence trailing, he watched her briefly until she coughed and a thin stream of blood leaked out from the corner of her mouth. He caught her before she collapsed and immediately she began foaming at the mouth. He glimpsed at the orange juice she had drank out from, catching the unpleasant odour of poison laced inside. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he stared as she shook and trembled, choking and rasping uncontrollably, and he lifted her into his arms, settling her on the bed.

He went to his medkit, having to resort to that in less than twenty four hours. What a waste. He found a syringe which was filled with a red substance inside and returned to her side. Luna would die soon if he wasn't quick – he held her in place and tried to use her arm as a place to inject the needle but she was convulsing violently. He then tried her neck, brushing her damp hair away from her shoulders and pulling down on her robe. She was nude underneath, and he could smell the soap from her body and hair. Without a moment of hesitation, he plunged the needle into her neck and pushed down on the syringe, watching the contents disappear inside her.

Gradually, her trembling stopped and her eyes slid to a close. She went still. He'd saved her life – again. The Captain let go of her and lifted her off the bed and pulled away the covers, easing her in. Once he tucked her in, he returned to his seat and checked the tray of food that was left for them. They were all coated in poison...


	3. Lupus Explosivae

Hello again! Yay thanks for the reviews and favs ^^ I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's not as long as the previous one though.

* * *

 _Lupus Explosivae_

 **30 years ago.**

He woke up to find himself buried under a mountain of rubble and debris and he was very much alive...even though he vaguely remembered the draculina and her familiar plunged his fist into his chest with the silver tooth before flipping him the bird.

Finding little strength in his limbs (which appeared to have regenerated), he pushed himself off the cold ground and rocks and pebbles rolled off him. Glancing around, the city of London lay in ruins around him and numerous cold, human corpses littered the ground. The blimp was gone. Hellsing was gone. The Major, the Doktor, the Nazis, Schrodinger... All gone. However, he was not alone for a woman dressed in white with snowy white hair stood a distance away with her back to him and as he moved to stand, she turned round.

"Hello, Alpha." She said, her gaze landing on his form. Her ashen appearance contrasted heavily with her eyes, which were a shade of gold.

He didn't say anything in response or greet her in any way but he did stare at her blankly, considering he remembered that this woman before him should be dead. He recognised her as _Beta_ , who was long gone from his life after a certain incident, and he was stunned but did not show it, his face a blank canvas. After long years of hardships, battles and the things he had witnessed and he had become a different man, drained and devoid of emotion to the point that he felt nothing inside and that he could not muster a smile or a frown no matter what the situation was. He was no more than a husk, a lifeless, empty shell.

Glancing down at himself, he was still dressed in his tarnished pants and he had his gloves on, indicating this might be just a few moments after his battle with the draculina in the Zeppelin.

"Yes, you're alive." Beta added, "You died, but you also didn't. It's a bit confusing, but just accept it for now, okay?"

He didn't quite understand. It should've ended there. He felt the chip burning him. He was no longer able to regenerate. The silver killed him. Killed everything about him, ate away all his cells and took his soul. He had smiled. He thought it was the end. How could this happen?

"Well, it seems the Major lied to you and used you to the very end...or maybe someone out there still has plans for you so here you are. You're not quite ready to join the pack yet after all." Beta said.

His fists clinched slightly as he pondered her words. But he had been alive for more than a century! What else could possibly be out there for him?

"There's a lot of blood on your hands since you became a Nazi. You may as well be responsible for the deaths of those three million civilians." She murmured, "So what will you do? Seek out Hellsing and ask that draculina to kill you again?"

Earnestly, he was no longer sure.

Suddenly, the sounds of a baby a distance away grabbed his attention and he glanced over. He spotted a grubby white bundle on the ground that was flailing and tossing and turning. A few feet away, a woman lay helpless and distressed under a car that was overturned.

"Help!" Once she spotted him and he spotted her, she was screaming for his attention frantically whilst trying to reach the infant with one outstretched arm, "Someone help me!"

Turning to Beta, the Captain stared at her and she stared at him.

"Will you help her?" She said.

He glanced at the trapped woman again, then Beta - only to realise she was gone and had vanished from his sight.

A ghost from the past, perhaps. He lifted himself off the ground and went over, pushing away steel bars and other crumbling buildings that were in his way, tossing them to the side like they weighed nothing. As he arrived at the woman and her car, she stared up at him pleadingly. She was covered all over in blood, clearly a survivor of the battle. There was a dead body beside her, a male...possibly the husband. At first, he stared at her for a while until lifting the car off her with one hand before depositing the vehicle to the side effortlessly, revealing that one of her arms had been severed from the accident. She stared at him wide-eyed as he proceeded to trudge over to the white bundle and pick it up, revealing the baby inside. The baby looked up at him, gurgling and laughing. He returned to the woman and promptly handed her the baby. She accepted the bundle and held the infant gingerly with her one arm.

"...Thank you." She muttered, trying to smile at him, only to fail miserably.

He merely stared at her for a while until the ground slowly became bathed in a warm orange glow; he turned and saw the sun rising over the horizon, indicating a new dawn.

* * *

 **Present.**

Things hadn't changed much since thirty years ago.

London was more or less the same. After the Battle and they slowly rebuilt everything back to normal with a few minor enhancements. A few monuments could no longer be restored, having been blasted beyond recognition and reparation thanks to Operation Sealion 2, namely Big Ben and the Tower of London. They called them terrorists and covered it up as an attack – perhaps the worst attack on London since World War Two. People's lives slowly began to return to normal but the laws were a little different now and the world was not as safe as it used to be; the Hellsing organisation would still continue their secret and vigorous prosecution of any Neo-Nazis who were attempting to plot another attack.

The Major was killed by Sir Integra. Schrodinger was dead but Alucard had returned. He couldn't remember how Doktor died. After the draculina defeated the Captain, he was blatantly wiped off the radar. Since then, he kept a low profile. He became _Hans Gunsche_. He still had his uniform, which he salvaged from a secret laboratory in Britain that still contained documents of Nazi experiments and operations. When he found it to salvage some supplies, namely his weapons and clothes, he realised nothing had been touched, indicating that Millennium was gone.

He was alone.

" _...No...No, stop! Don't kill me!_ "

The Captain glanced over to see the girl on the bed tossing and turning in her covers until she finally woke up with a sharp gasp and sat up, panting.

Luna.

Luna wouldn't have been born yet. She wouldn't know anything about him or the war. All she knew about him, or what she thought she knew, was that he was her bodyguard, hired by her father. He had nothing to gain from helping her. Clutching at her chest, he watched as she wiped at her sweat-drenched forehead and wiped at her mouth, which was abnormally dry. Turning to the bedside table nearest to her, she grabbed the bottle of complimentary water for her taking. Before she opened it however, the Captain was abruptly at her side, his hand over hers. She looked up at him questioningly but he shook his head and took it off her.

She watched him as he unscrewed the lid and put it to his nose. Luna tilted her head to the side when he returned the bottle to her after a brief moment.

He nodded, indicating that it was safe.

Hurriedly, Luna downed a few gulps and let out a satisfied gasp. "What happened?"

The Captain pointed to the tray of food. It was still there, untouched, and becoming covered in a thin sheen of a frosty-looking substance. The poison. Frowning, she briefly remembered after she drank the orange juice, it was as though someone was stabbing her in the stomach with needles and she thought as though the life was being squeezed out of her. She said, "You didn't order the food, right? So...Someone tried to poison me?"

Again, he nodded.

"You saved me? Again?"

He did not nod or shake his head. All she received was a stare.

She sighed. "Dude, there's seriously no need to be so modest about it. I was poisoned! How on earth did you save me?"

A gesture to the medkit was her answer.

Luna pursed her lips. That was one hell of a medkit. She slipped off the bed and moved to stand; she didn't need his help this time and when she glanced at the window, she saw that it was now daylight and once she checked the clock, her eyes widened, "What! 11am! Why didn't you wake me up?"

He gave her a blank stare and she sighed.

Limping to the door, the Captain followed her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She said, "Let go; I'm going to find the son of a bitch who tried to poison me and make him pay!"

He threw his gaze to the door and to her, then shook his head firmly.

"Why not?!"

His gaze darkened as he gave her a stern look.

"But - "

Shaking his head slowly, her shoulder went slump under his grip. "F-fine...Well, we need to leave anyway. I need to get my phone; it should be ready now." She hobbled to the bed and picked up her dirty coat and dress; she had no choice but to put them on. With a sigh, she took her clothes and held them up. They were muddy and dirty and she sighed.

To her utmost surprise, the Captain suddenly went into his bag and fished out a grey hoodie and jeans and a pair of shoes. To her surprise, they appeared to be her size.

She gawped at him. "...When did you get those?"

He didn't reply, but remembering that she was conked out for the rest of the night and it was so late in the morning, it wasn't surprising if he went out to get something for her. Perhaps the most baffling of all was –

"How did you even know what size I am?" She blurted out.

There was a silence.

A long silence.

They stared at each other for a little than longer than necessary before Luna's cheeks ultimately reddened. "...Uh...How much did you exactly see last night?"

He gave her another stare but then pointed to her dirty dress and heels. He must've just used those to find out her size.

"Oh, right. Duh, of course. Thanks anyway." Luna promptly grabbed the new clothes off him, grabbed her underwear and marched to the bathroom to get dressed.

* * *

 **Later.**

They checked out of the hotel at once with Luna pulling the hood over her head, glancing around shiftily, before she hurriedly made her way down the streets with the Captain behind her. She was a lot more comfortable now in normal everyday wear than the horrid itchy dress and equally horrid shoes. Arriving at Freddy's Phones, Luna was about to push open the door and enter until the Captain stopped her with an arm out. He was not looking at her when she glanced up at him expectantly.

"What?"

Finally, he turned to her and pointed to the ground. The stench of blood was strong within the shop.

"Huh?" She asked, confused. He pointed to the ground again, then shook his head. It took her a while to comprehend him fully and finally, she uttered out, "You want me to stay here?"

A nod.

"Why? Is something wrong? Is it not safe in there?"

His eyes narrowed as he lowered his head, the front of his cap casting a shadow over his eyes. He stared intently at the door with a frown then nodded. The Captain opened the door fully and she limped after him but he stopped her, shaking his head.

Luna frowned and crossed her arms. "But you can't leave me out here!"

Again, he responded with a firm shake of the head.

It was amazing that she understood him to a certain extent. "Alright, fine, I'll wait for you here but you better be quick about it. What if I get snatched, hm?"

The Captain nodded, then slipped inside the store without further ado.

He saw that it was empty and glanced around. The walls were splashed with blood, and various boxes and other items on the shelves were overturned and scattered on the shopfloor, possibly indicating a robbery, but he noticed that nothing was missing. The stench of blood was coming from the back of the shop behind the counter. He made his way over and saw Freddy on the floor, lying in a pool of his own blood. Dead. He had been stabbed multiple times. Searching the cupboards and Freddy's room, he did not see or find Luna's phone anywhere. It was all beginning to add up – the poison, dead Freddy, and Luna's missing phone. Someone was hot on their tail, determined that she did not return home alive.

Realising he'd left her alone for quite some time, he stormed out of the shop only to see that she was missing from the spot he had left her.

"Captain!" A voice screamed; he found her a distance away, being dragged across the street and shoved inside a black van by two masked men, dressed in garb identical to the ones he killed in the woods. "Captain, help!"

Luna was being taken away; the moment he left her side and this had happened. Typical.

The sliding doors slammed shut behind her and the van roared into life, speeding down the empty street with a screech of its tyres. The Captain followed the van, not letting it out from his sight as he sprinted after it. He saw a masked man poke his head out of the window and aim a rather large rifle at his direction, finger curling around the trigger. Obscenities were yelled before the man unleashed a hail of bullets.

The Captain dodged them, darting left and right, and the streets were full of the sound of bullets ricocheting against the tarmac. Cue screams from frightened civilians.

"Who the heck is this guy?!" He could hear the men inside the van yelling at each other.

"Who bloody cares?! Get rid of him!"

The van accelerated, whooshing down the road before turning a sharp right. The Captain pursued, avoiding more gunfire headed his way. The van didn't get very far despite the fact that it was racing down the streets at eighty miles per hour and once the Captain was near enough, he grabbed the bottom of the van with one hand and dug his heels into the ground. The van's wheels spun like crazy, kicking up dust in its wake, tyres screeching. Ultimately, it went nowhere. The Captain reached over and stabbed his fingers into the steel. It bent under his fingertips and he ripped the doors off their hinges and tossed them over his shoulder, revealing three masked men inside who were trying to tie up and gag Luna, whom they'd pushed to the floor.

Everyone stopped to stare.

Even Luna looked stunned to see him.

"Captain!" She exclaimed in relief; never had she been so happy to see him.

Throwing a quick glance at her, he noticed they had wounded her some way or another since she was clutching the side of her head which was bleeding.

The masked men were less than amused, however. "What the - ?!" The men shrieked in horror as the Captain proceeded to climb in and rose to his full height, the van shuddered violently under his weight. He towered over all the men inside who all seemed so small and tiny compared to his massive frame. "Do something!"

One man raised his gun, intending to fire at the Captain but before he could pull the trigger, Luna screamed "No!" and without thinking twice, she lunged at the man with the gun and grabbed at him, causing him to shoot bullets into the roof.

"Get off!" He yelled, shoving her roughly to the floor before aiming the gun at her.

Suddenly, a gloved hand grabbed the barrel of the rifle and bent the metal in half; the man glanced up in shock, only to be punched in the face so hard he flew backwards and smashed through the windshield, out of the van and onto the road, scaring the driver in progress who abruptly steered the van to a left. The Captain stood, fist clenched, and glanced at Luna. She gave him an awkward, tiny smile in response – otherwise, she appeared unharmed. There were still two men to take down – and Luna glanced worriedly as the Captain faced the two men at once. One wielded a deadly combat knife whilst the other had a hand gun and grenade.

The two men came at him, yelling and screaming; the Captain ducked from a flying fist, evaded a bullet. With a turn of his body, he appeared behind one of the men and grabbed him. The man was helpless in the Captain's grip and in a split second there was a dreadful 'crack' and Luna saw that he'd snapped his neck, twisting the man's head round so forcefully that his head sat on his shoulders, facing the wrong way. The last man shared a kinder fate, or so Luna believed – he came charging at the Captain with the grenade in hand and tossed it at him after biting off the ring - the Captain dodged it and punched him with such brute force, his hand went right through his guts and out of his back.

Pulling his bloodied fist out and shaking his fingers free of flesh and shattered bone, he spotted something sliding out of the pockets of the man's coat and saw that it was Luna's phone - which now appeared to be fixed - and he grabbed it and slipped it into his pockets. Next, he turned to Luna and she stared at him, blinking wide-eyed. The grenade rolled around on the floor of the van, and he grabbed her and lifted her into his arms, then leapt out of the van and onto the road where the van sped away before exploding and flying into the air in a spectacular fashion, before returning to the ground in a mushroom cloud.

Thankfully they were far away and free from harm but Luna gawped at the sight behind them; the van lay in the middle of the road in flames.

The Captain seemed unfazed as Luna panted heavily and gripped onto his collar, clutching him so tightly her knuckles were shaking and turning white. _This is like something out a freaking Hollywood movie!_ She thought to herself, swallowing down the lump in her throat. Suddenly, the Captain delved a hand into his pockets and took something out, handed it to her – it was her phone.

She shakily accepted it, "T-thank you..." She uttered wobbly. Glancing up at the Captain, she added, "Are you hurt?"

He shook his head.

"Okay, good."

When he did not look away from her, she said, "...Me? I'm fine." He didn't seem convinced, considering how long he was gazing at her, and she huffed. " _I'm fine_. And so is my leg." Then she smiled widely at him. "But thanks for asking."

There was no response, but she knew he was listening.

With Luna safe in his arms, he walked down the road silently.


	4. Lupus Sanguinum

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of update but I have another action-packed chapter for you all today. It's kind of filler-ish to be honest though. Thanks for the reviews and favs/alerts ^^

* * *

 _Lu_ _pus_ _S_ _anguinum_

It was getting dark again and this time there was no hotel nearby to stay in.

Luna had been trying relentlessly to get her phone to work for the past couple of hours. After several failed attempts, she bit down on her lip hard; her hand clenched her useless phone so tightly her knuckles turned white. The Captain watched this response in silence until she let out a long and agitated, frustrated groan and dropped her head over his shoulder in exhaustion.

He glanced to the side but didn't offer a comforting pat on the head or anything else to ease her qualms, although it was beginning to sound as if there was a bigger conspiracy behind all of this considering the amount of effort someone had taken to prevent her from reaching her friends and family. Instead, he continued walking.

The Captain had been carrying her without a word. He had the patience of a saint; he didn't even seem tired at all. On the other hand, she seemed tired though. He had carried her bridal style initially but then that became uncomfortable for her. He then carried her over one shoulder and then she got tired of the arrangement so he carried her on his back. Then she got tired of that too, so he was now carrying her with his arms under her knees. It would've looked better if he was carrying her on his back but he was not. He was now carrying her piggy-back style on his front, with her arms looped around his neck whilst she rest her chin on his shoulder so she could see cars zooming from behind them. She earnestly didn't care how awkward or horrible it looked. And it seemed the Captain didn't care either.

Suddenly, she said, "Captain, I'm hungry...I want something to eat...I want caviar...I want champagne...Do something..."

This girl was whiny beyond belief. It seemed her prayers were answered because up ahead, a small fast food restaurant with flashing bright lights on its signs at the edge of the highway said 'Hamburgers and Hot Dogs'. It wasn't caviar and champagne, but hopefully it'd do. When the Captain stopped in his pace, she followed the direction of his gaze and rolled her eyes.

"HELL NO. I'm not going in there – " Her stomach emitted a terribly loud growl then. "Okay, okay, _FINE_ , I get it! I get it, stomach! You've made your point! Beggars can't be choosers!"

With that, the Captain carried her over. Before they entered, he let her down and she walked up to the door; her leg seemed to be getting better but she still had a prevalent limp. She strode to the door but he opened it first and let her inside. She stepped in, staring at the large line of people at the counters.

"Hellooooo? Isn't anyone here going to serve me?" She said with a huff, until the Captain gestured to the queue.

She didn't know what the people were waiting for but it seemed one had to go to the counter and had to speak to a member of staff in order to be served. How annoying. The Captain, being mute, certainly was no help here in terms of ordering. Therefore, she marched up to the queue and stopped at the first counter she saw.

Immediately, the rest of the customers behind her began yelling at her. "Hey lady, there's a queue!"

She turned round in confusion. "What?"

"Get in line like the rest of us!"

"Line?" She was clueless.

Being booed and hissed at wasn't really something she liked so Luna blinked blankly until the Captain was at her side and she glanced up at him. He nudged her towards the end of the queue and she noticed the amount of glares she received as they made their way.

"Why is everyone glaring at me like that?" She mumbled, "Queuing up for food...that is so sad."

The Captain stood beside her silently. She really had been spoiled her entire life. They waited in the queue for a relatively short time until finally, it was their turn. Luna hurried up to the counter and stared at the menu for her choosing.

"Finally! It's about time. Could you be any slower?!" She barked at the worker behind the till.

"S-sorry, ma'am." said the boy; he was a teenager, freckle-faced and with a squeaky voice. "What would you like to order?"

The choices of food weren't really what she wanted but she guessed it would have to do. "I'd like to order two hamburger regular meals. And I'd like an Oreo McFlurry. Make it quick."

"Uh, ma'am...I think you're confusing us with – " The till worker said, but when the Captain shook his head, the worker fell silent and quickly inputted an order for an ice cream. "Are you sitting in or taking away?"

Again, Luna snorted with derision and crossed her arms. "No. As if I'm sitting here. This place is so disgusting I wouldn't be caught dead eating here." She hissed at the worker.

She was really beginning to get on the boy's nerves. If there weren't any CCTV in the kitchen they'd surely spit on her food. "...Okay, and what would you like to drink?"

"Coke will do."

"That'll be seven ninety five."

Luna went to fish out her card but remembering that it had been declined, she wondered what to do until the Captain reached over and handed some cash from his pockets. She stared up at him again in surprise as the till worker gave him some loose change afterwards. A few moments later and they were handed a brown paper bag with deep fried goods. Luna took a suspicious whiff before plucking out some fries and stuffing them into her mouth as they returned to the exit.

"... Acceptable." She said. Glancing at the Captain, she swallowed down a mouthful, held out the bag and said, "Want some?"

He shook his head.

"I ordered two meals – one for me and one for you."

He shook his head once more, indicating his final answer. They walked outside and wandered to the back of the restaurant, stopped at the kerb, where Luna plopped herself down and the Captain joined her silently. They stared at cars passing by until she let out a heavy sigh.

"Look at what I've been reduced to...eating this _crap_." She sneered as she bit into her burger, although he noticed that she'd also almost finished her fries.

Then she spotted a stray dog ransacking through one of the trashcans nearby, its fur was matted and incredibly dirty, its muzzle old and frayed. The Captain stared at it and as it caught whiff of Luna's bag of food, it trotted over. Luna stared as the dog padded over with its tail low and he thought she'd shoo it away but then she delved a hand into her bag and took out a handful of chips.

"Here. You must be starving." She said, "Take it."

The dog sniffed her hand for a while but the Captain took her hand and lowered it, shaking his head.

"What's wrong?" She asked, as he unzipped his bag and she saw him take something out. "...Huh? Dog food? You carry dog food with you?"

He didn't reply to that but opened the can by ripping off the lid with his hand which had her staring at him in amazement, and the dog seemed more interested in the canned contents than her chips. He emptied a small slushy pile of wet food for the dog to eat before patting it firmly on its fuzzy back and then he glanced at her. Luna looked away from the dog, to him, and smiled widely.

"You're a really nice guy, aren't you?" She said, but he didn't reply. Luna continued stuffing her mouth with some fries, "There are those who take advantage of nice people. You should be careful."

Glancing at her, he studied her silently then he rummaged in his tattered rucksack and pulled out an equally tattered small organiser which had her peering over his shoulder.

"What's that?"

He could feel her leaning over him but he didn't push her away. Instead he let her hover over him for a better look and took out a blunt pencil, then drew a large 'X' on a blank grid. It was a calendar. Luna looked at all the days he'd scored out but noticed that some dates were circled. Perhaps these dates were important to him? She then noticed that a circle was drawn on an empty box two days from now.

Tilting her head to the side, Luna said loudly, "Is something special happening on that day?"

He shook his head.

"Your birthday?"

Again, a shake of the head.

She inwardly shrugged, deciding not to pry any further. "Where are you from?"

Flipping the organiser to the last page, he showed her a page with all the flags of different countries of the world and pointed to the German flag.

"Huh, Germany...Interesting." She murmured, "Have you always been a bodyguard?"

He shook his head.

"So what did you do before?"

He gestured to his guns.

"Did you fight in the war?" Luna asked, and the Captain looked at her blankly for a moment, but then she suddenly laughed. "I'm just kidding – the war was thirty years ago! You probably weren't even born yet."

He stared at her a long time but ultimately did not respond in any manner. Instead, he chose to look away. They simmered into silence and he heard her finishing her meal before he felt a tug on his sleeve. Turning to her, he saw her pointing to the distance and that she was not looking at him, but at the edge of the highway, where there was a parked car and a little boy standing beside it, crying.

"Hey, look over there." She was pointing to the little boy and the Captain glanced over. "That kid looks lost."

He stared at the little boy; he was possibly less than ten years old, in dungarees and a white striped shirt. Before Luna could move, he grabbed her by the wrist firmly.

"What's wrong?" She said, turning to him.

He shook his head.

"But that kid is – what's wrong with you? Let go. That kid looks like he needs help." She shook herself free from his iron grip and he released her; she stood up, tossed away the empty food wrappers and crossed the restaurant grounds, passed the roads and towards the little boy; the Captain immediately stood up and followed after her. Once she stopped at the little boy's side, she squatted down in front of him and the boy lowered his arms where she saw his tear-streamed face. "Hey kid, are you okay? Where are your parents?" She asked, glancing at the parked car – it was empty but she noticed that the engine was still running. "Did they leave you in the car?"

The little boy nodded.

"How long?" She asked.

"I dunno..."

"Where did they go?"

The boy pointed to the woods. It was the same woods where she'd been attacked the night before, but obviously a different section.

"In there? Why?"

"This man came out from the trees and asked my daddy to come help him with something."

Luna was downright confused. "Maybe we should call the police – "

"Can you help me find my mummy?" The little boy said, interrupting her. He tugged at her sleeve, looking up at her with wet, pleading eyes.

"...Huh? You want us to go in there?"

The boy nodded.

Luna turned to the Captain for his opinion. He shook his head as she predicted. Turning to the little boy, she thought for a while then said, "...Well...I guess we could try and look for them. They went in there, right?"

The little boy nodded.

Turning to the Captain once more, she nudged her head towards the direction of the woods. "...Let's go."

He stared at her and she thought he would refuse, but to her surprise he moved first, strolling towards the direction of the woods. Luna trailed after him with the little boy beside her. They arrived at the foot of woods and entered, glancing around the empty clearing. It was empty. And very dark.

 _Something doesn't feel right_ , Luna thought, as the Captain glanced around until he threw his gaze to her. She had a feeling he was thinking the exact same thing. "Hey kid, where did you say your – " She stopped when she noticed the little boy had vanished from her side. "What the...?"

Suddenly, there was a rustle deep within the trees and a shadow sprang at them – the Captain was at her side in seconds and Luna shrieked as a dark creature dived for her and she heard a loud _crunch_ and Luna stared in horror to see the Captain standing in front of her protectively. The creature had its jaws latched on the length of his arm, although its intended victim had been Luna. The creature was a human – a man, by the looks of it - but his eyes were entirely black and his teeth resembled fangs which were embedded deep within the Captain's arm, causing blood to trickle from the wound.

"Captain!" Luna exclaimed in horror, as the creature sprang away and landed on all fours, lifting its head up with a grin etched on its face.

It was a strange-looking man, staring at them with his head tilted to the side, grinning at them with bloodied fangs which were as long and sharp as nails. Luna noticed that his eyes, indeed, were entirely black. He was also exceptionally thin with pallid features, his skin so white it seemed to gleam under the miniscule moonlight like marble.

A vampire.

Luna remembered her grandfather telling her about them.

Everyone in her family brushed him off as a little senile whenever it came to his recounted tales of the Battle of the London; her grandfather was so adamant about what he saw. The news called them terrorists and so did all the history books, but her grandfather was there. He saw what happened, he saw creatures from hell, feasting on humans and bathing the city of London with blood. They weren't terrorists; they were vampires.

She didn't think they were real until now.

Luna glanced at the Captain, who stood opposite the vampire silently. Without any words to be exchanged, the creature sprang at the Captain who immediately evaded the assault and he leapt high into the air. The thin man came at him again with his fangs out and the Captain retaliated with a spinning kick. It avoided by twisting its body in a gruesome manner, springing away to safety with a grin. Luna watched on uncomfortably as she kept a safe distance, watching as the Captain fought and avoided incoming attacks. The thin man kept evading until the Captain hastily closed in on him from behind, and with a clenched fist, sent it slamming into the thin man's pale face.

Dropping the grin, the thin man landed on the ground and swayed slightly on the spot, looking dismayed, his eyebrows twisted upwards woefully. Before the Captain could make another move, Luna felt a presence behind her and turned to see the little boy lunging at her, but his eyes were red and his jaws were open, his mouth elongated to an extent she thought impossible. His fangs were in full view, which were identical to the thin man's. Luna let out a horrified scream but ultimately was too slow to react - the Captain was quicker - he pulled out his long gun and aimed it at the child, pulling the trigger.

There was a loud 'bang!' and blood sprayed and the headless body dropped to the ground, quivering violently before exploding in a mass of blood. The Captain returned to her, checking if she was unharmed. The other vampire, the thin man, emitted a hiss and quickly made its swift effort by crawling into the shadows – but the Captain quickly swung his gun around and fired at his direction. A bullet slammed into its head and the vampire dropped to the ground, dead. Just like the child vampire, it exploded into blood.

The woods fell silent.

The Captain glanced at Luna and she stared up at him, panting. "You knew, didn't you?" She said quietly, "You knew what they were."

He nodded.

"Even that little boy?"

Again, he nodded.

"Why didn't you say any – " She stopped herself in time. "Oh."

Another silence spawned briefly.

Running her hands through her hair, she exclaimed, "This is so messed up! How many people have they lured in here before us?!"

He looked around the rest of the woods and noticing that the darkness that had settled within the woods seemed to have lifted.

"Your arm!" She exclaimed next, "You've been bitten...you'll...y-you'll turn into one..."

The Captain pulled up his bloody sleeve to reveal his thick, muscled arm. To her surprise, there were no bite marks, no wounds.

She looked up at him in shock. "...You're okay?"

A nod.

"But I saw him bite you! Are you sure you're okay?"

Again, a nod.

"Oh, thank goodness." Luna then breathed a sigh of relief and reached for him unconsciously; she grabbed his hand with hers and they began to walk towards the direction they had just come from, "Let's get the hell outta here."

They returned to the highway, with Luna wondering what they were going to do next. It was getting very dark and they still did not find anywhere to stay. The Captain seemed to have an idea, as he crossed the highway and towards the fields, wading through overgrown bushes. Luna trailed after him miserably until he stopped at a large clearing with a tree in the middle and settled down his bag on the ground.

"What are you doing?" She asked, as he glanced left and right and then to her. He pointed to the ground. "Are we staying here for the night?"

He nodded.

"WHAT?" She spluttered, but he ignored her.

She wasn't keen on staying outside, exposed to the elements. The thought of it made her shiver. She wanted to stay somewhere nice, warm and cosy. Now the shabby hotel room they stayed in the night before seemed far more appealing than this. "You can't be serious!" Luna protested angrily, but when the Captain began to unpack, she could only stare in bewilderment. Judging by how prepared he was, he seemed to be used to camping outside. He took out a tattered blanket and folded his bag and then gestured to her. He'd made her a bed to sleep in. Luna watched him, conflicted. She still didn't like the idea of sleeping outside. What if she caught a cold? What if grasshoppers or spiders climbed into her hair? What if it began to rain in the middle of the night? As Luna continued to gawp at him, the Captain seated himself at the foot of the tree trunk and crossed his arms.

"Hey, are you even listening to me?" She demanded, stomping her foot.

He pulled down on his cap to cover his eyes.

"Hmph!" She snorted, but ultimately knew she would not be getting her way. Imitating his action, she crossed her arms tightly. "This isn't fair." She stood in her spot defiantly with her nose in the air but the Captain was no longer acknowledging anything she was saying.

A few seconds passed.

A minute.

Two.

Luna slowly uncrossed her arms and glanced over; the Captain was unmoving. She wasn't used to people not paying attention to her. "Captainnnnnn! Don't ignore me!" She whined, only to elicit no successful response. Was he asleep already?

She spotted a rock near her foot and grabbed it, then tossed it at his direction. To her surprise, his arm darted out and he caught it in his palm with lightning reflex and looked up. She regretted her action immediately as he stared at her. His stare was unnerving... Luna gulped as he put the rock down, shaking his head slowly. Warning her. His expression was never changing, but the stare he was subjecting her to was increasing tenfold; he pointed to the blanket he'd prepared for her once again.

Her face went a funny colour. "Fine!" She huffed for a final time, before she hastily made her way over. She lowered herself over the blanket, curled up into a ball and lay her head over the bag. It wasn't very comfortable but it was better than nothing. Glancing up, she could see the Captain beside her. He had closed his eyes again.

Averting her gaze to the sky, she could see the stars. They were faint lights in the distance. The half-moon glowed brightly. It would be a full moon in a few days. For the umpteenth time, she let out an irritated sigh under her breath. "This isn't fair at all. Hmph." She closed her eyes and tried to get comfortable, tossing and turning various times. Nothing helped.

A strange noise a distance away however, caused her to jerk up in fright. "Ahhh! What was that?" She exclaimed, glancing around in the darkness. The bizarre noise came again, accompanied with more unusual sounds she was not used to. Whimpering, Luna crawled over and tugged at his pants. "...Captain...Wake up! Wake up, I'm scared!"

There was no response. Maybe this time he really was asleep. When the noise came again, she inched closer to the man, grabbing onto his arm, huddling against him. "Captainnnn." She whimpered again, but the man was silent. Her lip wobbling, she had no choice but to return to the blanket; Luna closed her eyes, trying to get to sleep. It was also beginning to get cold; she curled up tighter, holding her hands to herself, shivering slightly.

A few moments later and she heard the Captain shifting. She was too tired to move until she felt a weight on top of her. She opened her eyes immediately to see that he'd taken off his greatcoat and draped it over her. Luna sat up, pushing herself off the ground using her elbows, blinking blankly at herself then at the coat. The Captain was left in his white vest and his combat pants. Was that all he wore underneath that massive coat? She couldn't help but gawk; the Captain was a man with Olympic finesse, with those bulging muscles and thick, silvery-white hair curling over wide shoulders. Coughing into her fist, she turned her head away; it wasn't her intention to ogle.

She quickly returned to lie over the blanket, sighing. Gazing up at the dark sky, she mused to herself with a small smile. _Guess this isn't so bad after all..._

...


	5. Lupus Mentis

Thanks for the reviews :) Glad some of you are enjoying this crazy tale. Here's more...although its more like a Captain x Luna bonding chapter hehe.

* * *

 _Lupus Mentis_

 **Holmwood Manor.**

Luna did not come home last night.

It wouldn't have been a problem since Luna didn't always come home every night because she often went partying, but the car that was supposedly taking her home last night was found abandoned in Delamere Forest and her chauffeur was found dead several feet away along with a few dead masked men, indicating either a) a kidnapping attempt, b) a hijacking, c) both of the aforementioned.

John nibbled fretfully on his thumbnail until a butler strode into the room. "Well? Did you find her?" He asked.

"No, sir, but we have some witnesses who claim that they saw a girl matching Miss Luna's description travelling with a strange man."

John frowned darkly. He was a handsome man; tall, broad and with a chiselled jaw and pristine, coiffed hair. "Strange man?" He muttered; he wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or not, knowing that she was still alive but with a _strange man_ , "Call the police."

"Yes, young master. Right away."

"God, I'm so worried about her. Please be safe, Luna..." John murmured anxiously, as the butler exited and closed the door quietly, leaving him to his own thoughts.

A few minutes of silence passed, then he got up from his comfy seat and went to the back of his study, pushed down on one book in the shelf and the wall slid away to reveal a passageway. Glancing around, John slipped inside and the wall closed behind him. He went down the dark staircase and arrived at the basement where two men dressed in black stood, waiting for him. The two men were holding up a severely injured man. The injured man, his face was swollen and disfigured, and he looked up weakly to see John standing before him.

"Sir, we brought the deserter." said the henchmen.

The injured man raised his head, showing his badly burnt face which was covered in boils and pus. "Ah fwident fwethert thwem!" From his disfiguration, his words came out as garbled nonsense.

There was a slight silence until John slid his hands into the pockets of his tailored suit and with an eyebrow raised, he said, "...What the hell is he saying?"

"I think he's trying to say that he didn't desert them, sir."

"Funny." John said with a frown, "The moment you came back without any of your comrades says to me that you deserted them. I asked you to do a very simple thing for me, a really, really, _**really**_ simple thing and that was to kill one little girl. I didn't even care what you did to her or how you'd do it - stab her, shoot her, poison her, run her over, dismember her, rape her, decapitate her...whatever! And you couldn't even manage to do ANY of those?"

The injured man flailed wildly in pain again. "Fwee thwath thoo thlong!"

"...Can someone translate that?"

One of the grunts turned to the burnt man who was gesturing violently. "Sir. He said ' _he was too strong_ '."

"Who was too strong?"

Everyone turned to the injured man who proceeded to garble out, "Thutho. Fwee thwath thall. Thith thight. Hath thwithe thair anth fee thwath tharc. Fwee thilfth awth thah thighs. Thathwey thutheye fwith thie thieth."

The translator-henchman said, "Sir, he said: _Dunno. He was tall, this height. Had white hair and he was dark_. _He killed all the guys. Barely survived with my life_."

"You got all that from that nonsense he spouted out?" John said.

"Sir...uh... Yeah."

"So it was a tall, dark man who killed all the men I sent to go with you."

And the injured man seemed relieved, nodding ferociously.

John was furious. "Urgh, right. So someone helped her. Alright. Fine. That's new. Okay then. I've wasted enough time. I want this girl killed, alright? Bring me a professional, like a vampire or something. Get him out of my face. Take him away. He's an eyesore. And someone put him out of his misery."

"Yes, sir."

The injured man let out a garbled shock of horror and the two men in black grabbed him again, leading him out of the room through a dark doorway, kicking and flailing in their hold. "Noooooooo!" He was screaming, finally making some sense. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

 **Later.**

It would be a full moon in two days.

The Captain glanced at the snoozing girl who was curled up beside him. During her sleep, Luna had wormed her way out from the blanket and his coat and gravitated towards him. He noticed that she moved a lot during her sleep - lots of restless tossing and turning - and she also talked a lot during her sleep too, occasionally murmuring and mumbling out loud.

He diverted his attention to the grubby map in his hands. He had been trying to work out where the closest town was, and from what he recalled from all the highway signs they'd passed, the journey to the next town would at least take a day and a half. That was not entirely good news, considering he'd be turning soon. Despite being alive for more than a century and being able to shift into a wolf form when he wanted to, he still could not control his full transformation when it came to a full moon. The full moon's effect on him was simply that strong. No amount of training or discipline helped. He would need to get Luna far away from him as possible in that case. On the night of his transformation and he'd needed to leave her somewhere safe until the night was over. It meant he was also possibly exposing her to assassins, but then he figured he himself would be a greater threat...

He tried to find 'Basildon Knight Manor' next on his map. Unfortunately there was nothing there and it did not seem to spread far enough so he put it back into his bag. He came to the conclusion that the best way to get Luna home as quick as possible would be to find Mr Robb; maybe he could get contact details and an address from him since he knew the client.

Grasping at his neck, he tugged his dogtag out where a piece of blunt silver was affixed to it. It was pure silver; the only piece he'd manage to salvage from the ruins of the Zeppelin. After the attack on London and after all the treasure Millennium had snatched from their victims from over half a century ago came into light, it became prey to the public in a matter of seconds. This little piece of silver was the only thing worth taking from the pile.

He then averted his gaze to Luna who was now mumbling something to herself again.

"Mmm, Mr Fluffykins...so soft and squidgyyy..."

Luna laughed in her sleep. She was having a good dream; she was at home, in her nice and warm, cosy and large mansion with servants at her every whim. She was lying in bed, hugging Mr Fluffykins tightly to herself. _Mr Fluffykins_ was a teddy bear given by her mother. Even though he became greyer and fuzzier and a glass eye popped off as the years passed, she loved him all the same. He gave her comfort when she felt afraid or lonely.

Giving him a tight squeeze, Luna continued rubbing her cheek against the plushie until Mr Fluffykins suddenly changed from his bear shape and slowly shifted to one of the Captain.

 _Huh, that's weird..._

 _W-wait a minute...!_

Just like that, the world collapsed all around her and Luna was forced to return to reality; she opened her eyes immediately to see that it was now daylight. Confused, she stared at the woodland and bushes and the tree behind them and then she glanced up at the Captain who was beside her.

He stared at her.

She stared at him.

Glancing down, she saw that she was practically curled up against him with her arms looped around his. It wasn't Mr Fluffykins she had been hugging.

"AGH!" She let go of him immediately and stumbled backwards, panting heavily. When she finally regained her composure, instead of apologising or being completely overwhelmed with embarrassment by her actions - she was angry. "What the hell!? What happened?"

At least she wasn't accusing him of anything though. It never really did cross her mind that he would take advantage of her at any point, considering they'd even stayed in a hotel room together and nothing happened. Nor did the Captain seem the type or was the type to do such a despicable thing. She was grateful for that at least. And it seemed she was angrier at herself than him.

The Captain stared at her for a while as she flailed around but didn't respond to her spluttering.

"W-what time is it?" She finally managed to croak out after she calmed down.

He fished out a rusted pocket watch from his trouser pocket which indicated it was roughly seven am.

"Ugh...it's so early..." She grumbled in exhaustion. She returned to lie over the blanket and stared at the sky above; there were a lot of clouds...maybe it would rain soon? She grunted as she closed her eyes, trying to return to sleep. When sleep evaded her, she let out another groan. "Captain...are you awake? I'm thirsty..."

She heard him shifting; Luna sat up and saw that he had stood and was now leaving his spot, donning his greatcoat. She gawked at his retreating back. Where was he going? Should she follow?

"Where are you going? Don't leave me!" She scrambled up and hopped after him on her bad leg. Wasn't he going to carry her, either? She followed him for a short while until he came to a stop; the Captain stood before a small stream. He turned to her, levelled his gaze with hers and then crouched down with a flask in hand which he had gathered from his bag. He unscrewed the top and dipped it into the water. Luna squatted down beside him and watched him tentatively as he filled the flask and then promptly handed it to her. She stared again, blinking wide-eyed at the flask, then to him.

Then her cheeks went a bit pink.

It was first thing in the morning...she'd woken up in a bad mood and demanded water...and he had just got up and...gotten some water for her.

Although she had tonnes of servants at her disposal, getting her _this_ or getting her _that_...

Luna's heart thudded a little harder and a tad louder as she thought about his gesture. "Oh...u-um..." She stammered, suddenly feeling abnormally shy. She looked at it cautiously. "...Is it safe to drink this though?"

He nodded.

With that, she took a little sip. The water was refreshing and cool and she let out a satisfied gasp. Then she handed it to him. "Here, you drink some too. I'll clean the rim so it's not dirty." She used her sleeve to wipe the area where she drank from. The Captain merely took the flask off her, closed it and tucked it into his bag.

Suddenly, something landed on her head and Luna glanced up at the darkening sky, just in time for raindrops to come pelting down from above. "Ahhh! It's raining!" Covering her head with her hands, she stood up and the Captain followed suit, watching her as she flailed around. "Now what do we do?!"

The Captain removed his coat and then proceeded to drape it over her. Taken by surprise by the gesture yet again, Luna could only blink at him blankly as he silently ensured the coat covered her properly, pulling on the front and over her head and buttoning it up to her chin. It was simply too large for her, hanging off her tiny frame. Luna felt her cheeks warm again once he was finished and she coughed into her fist to hide her growing embarrassment. The Captain ushered her towards the direction of a nearby tree where they stood side-by-side, waiting for the rain to pass. Luna stared off into the distance, contemplating, and when the rain finally stopped after a brief period, she removed the coat and handed it back to him. It'd done a great job keeping her dry and warm but now the Captain seemed soaked.

"Thanks." She uttered, unable to meet his eye as he took it off her. "Okay. Now what? Are we going back to the highway straight away? But I've not had any breakfast...I've not washed my face, combed my hair or brushed my teeth...Actually, what I could do with is a bath right now..." Luna moaned aloud; she took one whiff of herself and sighed. She was used to lavish baths and showers, used to showering or bathing at least twice a day. She was really beginning to feel gross all over. And she just wasn't used to this.

The Captain pointed downstream, pointed to a larger stretch of water a distance away.

"Seriously?" She gave the surface of the water a wary glance and it finally clicked in her mind. "Really? There? It looks dirty! Look, I've already sacrificed a lot so far – I stayed in that dingy hotel room, I ate those horrible food, I even slept _outside._ It was amazing it didn't rain and we didn't get struck by thunder or lightning or something. I'm really suffering here, you know! I'm living like a complete beggar here if you haven't noticed! And if my friends found out about this, I'll be the laughing stock for the rest of my life. So I am _not_ washing myself like that. I know we're in the middle of the nowhere but I'm not some caveman. There's gonna be all sorts of ugly bugs and leeches and fish in there all dying to get a piece of me."

Another silence spawned between them but she didn't add anything else to that so the Captain made a move to leave. She wondered when would be the next time they'd come across an establishment with hot running water. Maybe it would be a fair amount of time, and she truly felt dirty all over. She was in dire need of a bath. Now.

"Wait!" She cried.

The Captain stopped and turned to her again.

"...How long until we reach the next city?" She asked nervously, fidgeting slightly.

Glancing at the horizon, he returned his gaze to her after a while, contemplated silently and held up two fingers.

"Two miles?"

He shook his head.

"Two...hours?" She said, a little hopefully.

Again, he shook his head.

"Days?"

A nod.

"Seriously?!"

Another nod.

Luna bit down on her lip. "Alright, fine, I'll go wash for a bit. But you need to keep watch, okay? Oh, and give me something to dry myself." He handed her the blanket, then turned away from her.

She stared as he stood with his back to her. She seemed stunned by his action but glad; Luna glimpsed around the area nervously before waddling to a spot full of overgrown weeds that went up to her shoulders and nodded to herself. "Yeah...that'll do..." She hastily stripped herself of her clothes and undies and held them up. "Hey Captain! Hold these for me, will you?"

She tossed them at his direction; without turning round, he stiffly held out his arm and her clothes swung over his sleeve. Pleased with his silent co-operation, she averted her gaze away from Coathanger-Captain, threw another cautious glance left and right and jumped into the water. It was freezing! Luna stepped over the rocky stream bed and she quickly splashed some water over her face and rubbed at her dirty arms and legs. She was getting some of her hair wet too but didn't care.

 _Better do this quick... don't want something to –_

"EEEK!" Luna shrieked as soon as something nipped at her ankle and she sprang out of the water, grabbing at the blanket which she promptly flung over herself just as the Captain turned round. She glanced up at him with the blanket draped over her, wide-eyed with fear and damp with reeds and lilypads sticking to the sides of her arms and legs. "S-something bit me! Help!"

He was at her side at once, crouching beside her.

Luna proceeded to wrap the blanket around herself quickly. "I think it was over there!" She wailed, pointing to one of her ankles – it was the bad leg, too. The fact that she was practically wearing nothing but the blanket in front of him seemed to have escaped her mind.

The Captain grasped her leg gently in hand and turned it to reveal a small but chubby, black wriggly worm plastered on her pale skin.

"Ahhh! What the hell is that?!" Luna squawked, grabbing onto his shoulder for support.

He plucked the worm off her but she emitted a hiss as a little dot of blood followed the extraction. It was a leech, which he tossed into the water.

Luna stared as it dropped into the lake was a loud 'plop!' and turned to the Captain as he carefully let go of her leg. "See? I told you! I knew something like this happen! What did I tell you?" She growled sourly, as he helped her up to stand. He handed her the clothes which she grabbed off him in a rage. Turning round again to let her change, he heard her huffing and puffing as she dried and dressed herself. "Well, I hope you're happy now. I got bit by a leech! These couple of days have been the worst days of my life!"

He heard her sip her hoodie to her neckline and turned round to see a fully dressed Luna, pointing to herself. Feeling as though she'd been pushed to her limit, she added, "I was almost killed, not once but several times! I have been poisoned! I had to sleep _outside_! I had to eat that greasy crap, and to top it all off, I've now been bitten by a frikkin' leech! I WANT TO GO HOME AND I DEMAND THAT YOU TAKE ME HOME RIGHT - "

The Captain suddenly reached over and looped something over her neck.

Luna stopped her rant at once and glanced down. He'd given her his dogtag. "...What are you doing?"

The Captain, as usual, said nothing. Instead, he picked up his bag and other belongings and began to leave the field. Luna stared at the dogtag around her neck numbly and then lifted it up to eye level. Turning it around, she saw a piece of dirty silver attached to it.

"Captain! What's the meaning of this?" She yelled after him, but he didn't reply, causing her to huff. "Wait! Don't leave me behind!"

Once she finally reached his side, they walked quietly until –

"Um...Captain?"

He threw his glance at her and she glanced at him.

"...Can you carry me?" She said, a little meekly. "Please?"

He nodded, and she cheered.

Luna held her arms out and he effortlessly lifted her into his arms; she proceed to wrap her arms around his neck. "Thanks." She said, as he adjusted his hold on her, "...Sorry for yelling. You've been really helpful and I keep yelling and complaining. Sorry. It...It's just been really difficult for me over the past couple of days. But I'm okay now. I needed to get it out of my system. I'm not mad anymore."

There was no acknowledgement from the Captain's end, but he continued walking. Thus, the Captain's precarious journey with Luna continued.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Hahaaahaa Luna can be soooo annoying XD The Captain will put her right in her place soon. At the same time he spoils her D:


	6. Lupus Vale

If anyone is still reading this, thank you. I don't update this often enough, but I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

 _Lupus Vale_

 **25 years ago.**

"There he is!"

Rosy was woken up by the frantic yells of her dad. Jolting up from bed, she heard her dad trampling down the stairs with gun in hand, cocking it.

"I ain't letting you get away this time, you bastard! I saw you! Ain't gonna let ya escape!"

"Dad?!" Rosy exclaimed, as she rushed out of her room and leaned over the banister.

Dad looked at her as he flung open the front door. "I heard him, Rosy! The bastard's that's stealin' our chickens!" And then he slipped out of the door and into the night.

Over the course of three weeks, ten chickens and three lambs went missing from the barn despite the thick barbed wire fences that had been set up around the farms perimeter which took Rosy's dad three days and a half to construct. It could not have been a human since he'd have experiences with thefts before. Usually they used tools to trespass or break into property. Whatever it was that got to his precious livestock had crushed one section of the fence, obliterating it like it was nothing.

Rosy lived on a small farm with her dad. Her family was a lot bigger back then but the Battle of London took the lives of her grandparents and her mother. During the mayhem and chaos, they also became separated from her brother and little sister. Although they remained in the ruined city attempting to find the missing siblings, their home on the outskirts was also bombed beyond belief, and so with nothing left and their chances of surviving becoming slimmer and slimmer as the months passed, they left, and settled on a tiny patch of unclaimed land to spend the rest of their days whilst continuing their search for their family.

Rosy followed suit, she hastily pulled on a jumper, grabbed her own rifle and ran downstairs. Outside, a gunshot sounded off. She hoped she wasn't too late and had missed all the action; she left the safety of the house and saw dad a distance away, his back to her. He was now standing stiffly with gun in hand and ready to aim, his gaze transfixed on the culprit who was bathed in the darkness of the night.

Rosy cocked her gun and peered through the viewscope, switching on nightvision for a better view. As soon as she saw it, her eyes widened. She slowly lowered the gun.

It was a wolf.

Impossible. Wolves were not native animals to Britain. Stunned, Rosy gawked for a few moments until she heard her dad cocking his gun once more.

"Wait! Dad, no!" She cried. "Don't shoot it!"

She rushed over, placed her hand on the barrel of the gun and shook her head, much to her father's disbelief. "Rosy, what are you - "

"It's not the thief, look!"

Rosy was pointing to the pen where a shadowy figure could be seen running away towards the direction of the field. "What the - !" spluttered Rosy's dad.

Turning to the wolf, it padded away silently, disappearing through the vast undergrowth and vanishing from view, returning to whence it came.

...

A week had passed, the thefts were still on the rise and the wolf was still at large, but she was too busy and exhausted from the menial work that was needed around the farm that was becoming just too much for herself and her dad to handle and they needed some assistance. On a side note, 'interviews' with some locals had been conducted for the gravely needed extra pair of hands. Lodging and food would be provided in exchange for a menial wage and equally menial labour (at least, that's what their flyer said). So far, the candidates didn't prove themselves to be very trustworthy or reliable. They only seemed interested in the free food and roof over their heads...

However, one night, the wolf came again.

She was not sure what had roused her from sleep but she opened her eyes, got up from bed, checked the clock (it was 2am) and stepped outside as quietly as she could without waking her father up. The wolf was there, standing in the dark, staring at her with its big ruby red eyes. The eyes didn't seem natural and neither did its behaviour...and its presence should've frightened her considering it was a large creature but to her surprise, she did not feel fear or anxiety or any of the sort.

Rosy, in her pyjamas and thick, grubby sweater, proceeded to waddle back inside the house and re-emerged a few minutes later with a dead and plucked chicken and skinned wild rabbit in her grasp. They'd killed it earlier to be prepared, and now she was deciding to offer them to the wolf. Stepping off the porch, she took a few steps forward and thrust her arm out, dangling the chicken by its feet and the rabbit by its ears.

"...Are you hungry?" She said, "I used to be hungry all the time too...my dad and I struggled to get by after the war...but now that we've got the farm we're okay now. So...you can have these."

She was feeling too brave; she had expected the wolf to come over and either attack her, or take the chicken and rabbit off her and run, but to her surprise, it did neither. Subjecting her to a long stare, it turned and trotted away, disappearing from her sight.

...

The next day, a man appeared on their doorstep with their flyer in hands. He was tall, dark-skinned and silent, and he was very hardworking.

Rosy's dad hired him straight away.

* * *

 **Present.**

It was evening.

Luna was tired after spending most of the day travelling through the empty fields on their way that would lead to the next city. Now she was waiting for the Captain to return; he had left her side for reasons unknown because he did not say although her incessant moaning about being hungry may be perhaps the reason. He had been gone for half an hour now and she was growing impatient. Luna was not used to being alone. It may have been a risky decision to leave her on her own, but they were out in the wilderness and there was no sight of anyone in these empty fields so she was perhaps safe from pursuers for now. Luna was running her fingers over the dogtag looped around her neck and poking uncaringly at the fire he'd made for her before his departure although she was doing a terrible job at keeping it alive, having not made an effort to tend to it.

A brooding shadow approached all of a sudden and she looked up; the Captain had returned with his hands full, literally, with a wild rabbit and pheasant. Both animals were dead, their eyes glossy and unmoving. He looked at her, settled down the carcasses and having noticed the dwindling flames, grabbed a bundle of the twigs which Luna had not touched and kneeled down, promptly feeding them to the fire.

However, Luna cheered, gleaming upon his return. "You're back!"

He did not respond, only continue to tend to the fire until it was bigger and bigger. Once that task was done, he picked up the dead rabbit by its ears and glanced at her.

"That's not our dinner, right?" She said, a little flatly.

Her answer was silence.

"Aren't there any restaurants nearby? No? None at all?"

She was ignored; the Captain took out a blunt knife from his duffel bag and promptly began expertly skinning the creature before her eyes without a second to spare. Luna shivered slightly at the sight and turned away. He was probably used to this, hunting animals, skinning them... she could hear the disgusting squelch of flesh and fur being pulled and the Captain ripping and tugging. The stench of blood was strong and it seemed to go on and on. Luna instinctively inched away, not wanting to witness the act at all. A few moments later and she heard him rifling for something and finally glanced over; he had put down the skinned rabbit and now had a thick tree branch balancing over his lap. With the knife, he started sharpening it and Luna watched as he neatly sliced at the wood until its edge was sharp.

Picking up the rabbit again, he doused it with some water from his flask, impaled it cleanly and then handed it to her. Luna stared hard, then glanced at him again. Wincing slightly, she took the stick off him and balanced it over the fire, watching the flames lick at the corpse. She didn't know how long it was to be cooked for, so she kept it hovering over the fire motionless until he gestured for her to rotate it so it could be cooked on its other side.

Luna nodded meekly, then did as she was told.

"How long do we cook it for?"

He subjected her to a long stare, before glancing at his pocket watch. He tapped the '10' and she nodded.

"Ten minutes...okay." She murmured, as he took out a flask and unscrewed the lid, placing it beside her for her to take. She didn't notice, staring at the rabbit and making sure she didn't burn it. Soon, the meat was beginning to emit a pleasant but smoky smell.

 _I'm cooking,_ she thought, _Well...sort of...but back in the manor...I never cooked anything before. All the servants did it for me._

Then she thought more about the Captain; he had caught a rabbit and a pheasant for her, because she was hungry. He was her bodyguard, but she didn't think he'd be so efficient.

 _He's just doing his job_ , she mulled to herself. _Pretty darn good job, I guess. I mean, he's kept me safe from those people out to get me, he's keeping me fed and clean. My previous bodyguards didn't even bother with me. This is so extra of him to do that._ She couldn't help but giggle slightly and suddenly the Captain was at her side, lifting the rabbit-on-the-stick.

"Huh? What? Oh." She burst out of her thoughts, noticing one side of the rabbit was becoming burnt. She quickly turned it round to the other side. "Sorry."

Silence engulfed them after Captain returned to his spot and Luna continued cooking whilst he silently started plucking feathers off the pheasant. Once all the feathers were gone, the rabbit was ready to eat by the time; Luna glanced at Captain and inched the rabbit towards him but he merely shook his head.

"Don't you want any?"

He shook his head.

"Hm...m'kay then..." She replied, but she mentally reminded herself to make sure she left enough for him. Luna glanced at the rabbit for her taking, wondering where to start. She chose to nibble the middle section first. There were a lot of bones and she could not taste anything. It would've tasted better if there were spices or herbs or some sort of sauce... maybe an appetizer or d'oeuvre beforehand would've helped. Some champagne, maybe? Once Luna had her fill, she passed it to him. The man exchanged a steely gaze to her, then took the stick off her and glanced at the leftover rabbit.

Luna took the pheasant off him in return and focused on cooking. She didn't see him eat.

After the meal, the Captain disposed of the carcasses and Luna patted her belly. She was full, and although the meal was not exactly something she would normally eat, she was pleased and relatively satisfied. In a good mood, she did a stretch and sighed loudly, then turned to Captain.

"Hey, Captain?" She started. "...Do you have any family? Friends?"

A few seconds passed, but he didn't respond.

She didn't know whether to interpret that as a 'yes' or a 'no'.

Luna continued speaking anyway, "...Well, I'm wondering if my family and friends are worried about me. My phone doesn't work...and you don't have a phone...the next city's still a day away...there's nothing, nobody closeby...I hate feeling so closed off to the world." She said, before she quickly scoffed. "Urgh, what am I saying? Of course they're worried about me! I bet they've called police and looking for me high and low."

 **Meanwhile.**

It was a big room; bookshelves lined every wall that stretched all the way from the floor to the ceiling. An old man was sitting at his armchair comfortably, reading a newspaper. Then, the door opened and footsteps entered the room, disrupting the ambiance.

"Hey, dad."

Without even looking up from the newspaper, the old man said, "Ah, John. Where's Luna? She didn't join us for dinner tonight."

"Yeah, she's with her friends. Boat party. She'll be back soon." He replied.

Luna's dad sighed. "That girl... wish she would tell me this before she goes off like that all the time...not even a text or a phonecall..."

John chuckled. "She's a big girl now. She'll be fine." He muttered, adjusting his cuff links on his sleeve. "...Hey, dad? I got a question."

"Yep sure, fire away..."

"About the meeting tomorrow..."

"Well, I'll have to postpone because Luna isn't here."

John frowned slightly. "...I see. You know, you should've told her." He uttered, "You should've told her earlier that you were thinking of handing over the business to her."

Dad chuckled in response as he looked at the comic strip panel. "Gouda news...cheese...haha..."

The frown on John's face worsened. "Dad, are you even listening to me? Dad...?"

...

Later, the Captain ticked off another day on his tatty organiser, returned it into his bag. The full moon was soon. Even though he gave her his only piece of silver, she wouldn't know what to do with it. First thing in the morning, he would take Luna to the city and find her a place to stay for the rest of the day and night and then he would go as far away from her as possible until his transformation was over. Upon checking the watch, he realised it was getting late and it would be time to start laying out the makeshift bed that he prepared the last time for Luna until he spotted her propping up the blanket and bag on her own beside him. She was too busy to notice him staring, but once he watched her finish the task on her own, he began to remove his coat and handed it to her for her use.

"It's fine. I don't need it. I can sleep like this." She replied, lying over the blanket and resting her head on the folded bag. Shifting her glance up to him, she said, "Hey, Captain?"

She was met with silence. He had made himself comfortable in his spot against the trunk of the tree, eyes closed.

"Captain...? Hellooooo...?"

More silence.

"Captain?"

She stopped trying. He could hear her muttering to herself. When all went silent and Luna was lying on the blanket with her eyes closed, he re-opened his eyes. Then he delved a hand into the pockets of his coat and took out an old, crumpled photo. There was a young woman and a middle aged man featured in it, smiling at the camera. They were standing in front of a farmhouse.

"Ohhhh, so that's your family."

He looked up.

Luna was sitting beside him, leaning over his shoulder; he knew she was awake and that she had sat up, but he did not make any form of protest in any way whatsoever. "Is that your dad and sister?" She said. "They look nice. Where are they right now?"

* * *

 **27 years ago.**

When he came to, he was lying in the field and his hands were covered in blood. Glancing down at himself, he was only dressed in his pants which were ripped at his calves. His shirt was in shreds, hanging around his waist. Rising to stand, he looked up. He wasn't far from the farmhouse at all. He slowly made his way over, wading through the tall corn stalks. There was a cool breeze, clouds in the sky. The sun was strong, but not warm enough. There was an eerie tranquility which he found most unbecoming.

Arriving at the house, he saw Rosy's father dead, lying face down, but his eyes still open. He was disemboweled and sprawled over the stairs, as though in the middle of an unsuccessful escape. The front door was ajar and the wood was splintered and desiccated by three long gashes.

Laboured, heavy breathing from the kitchen caught his attention, along with Rosy's scent which he was very familiar with. He found her on the floor, sitting upright against the corner. She was a terrible sight to see, soaked in blood with her favourite rifle lying by her side, snapped in half. He stopped at the doorway and they locked gazes. She twitched slightly but otherwise did not say a word as he approached her and kneeled beside her.

Rosy looked at him weakly. "...Hans...You came back...but... I have to say goodbye now..." She breathed out, and he looked at her but said nothing. Her wounds were deep; it was astonishing to see her still alive. She prodded towards him a piece of silver, plopping it into his bloodied palm. Offering him a smile, she added, "I couldn't use it..."

His fingers curled over the silver piece before he returned her gaze.

"Hey...I know what you're thinking...and you're wrong...its not your fault...and it's gonna be alright." She said, "Everything's gonna be alright..."

He glanced at her wounds, then shook his head.

"...It's okay..." She murmured softly.

He watched her breathe heavily, her chest rising with difficulty from the pain. It would be soon, and he stayed by her side until she stopped moving altogether and went very still; he swept his palm over her eyes and closed them, then lifted her limp body in his arms, rose from his spot on the kitchen floor and carried her out of the house. Laying her body in the field, he returned to the porch and picked up her father and also lay him beside Rosy.

He would give them a burial, and afterwards, he would move on.

...

A/N

About the flashback with the family at the farmhouse... I wanted to introduce some character and mystery to the Captain because he appeared to them as a wolf and as a human later on. I also wanted to expand a bit more in Rosys interaction with captain as a wolf but decided to leave it short. Also, as to why he came to the farmhouse I will leave to your speculation although I did some research on wolves and they are always travelling in packs or have a need to form/find/stay in a pack.

Anyways...After being mistaken as a thief as a wolf, he stays at the farm for 2 years, but during one violent transformation, he accidentally killed Rosy and her dad in his full werewolf form. In this fic he cannot control his full werewolf transformation when it is a full moon.


End file.
